National League: Having a senior international in their midst will give an added spring to Shelbourne's step against St Patrick's Athletic at Tolka Park tonight.

"We, his team mates, felt he fully deserved it," said midfielder Stuart Byrne, no relation of namesake Jason who made his debut as a late substitute for the Republic of Ireland in Wednesday's 0-0 draw with Poland in Bydgoszcz.

"We train with him every day and play with him week in week out and see the quality he has. It's great for the league in general, but especially good for Shels," added Byrne. "Bohs have had Glen Crowe capped and it was probably important that Shels got some recognition for what we've achieved in winning the league."

Shelbourne manager Pat Fenlon said his international striker was "high as a kite" as he gleefully fielded banter from team mates at training yesterday morning, only hours after the flight back from Poland.

"To have someone of his quality in the team is great and the fact he has now got an international honour is a big lift," added Byrne. "It can only work wonders for Jason's confidence and that should feed back into the team as well.

"It will be a terrific boost to all the other lads to know we are playing alongside an international. Jason will be flying after the week that he's had and hopefully he can finish it off with a couple of goals."

That is bad news for visitors St Patrick's whose erratic form has them sitting second bottom of the table. "It will be tough but we're looking forward to it," said their manager Eamonn Collins. "We've struggled to get results at home, but we've been good on the road and won well at Drogheda and Longford, tough places to go."

Striker Gary McPhee could be out for up to four months after dislocating his left shoulder in last week's defeat to Shamrock Rovers. Left back Karim El Khebyr returns from a knee injury. Unbeaten leaders Shelbourne are close to full strength with only Tony McCarthy sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Bohemians and Cork City, chief rivals to Shelbourne for the title, meet at Dalymount Park desperate to regain some momentum as they lie eight and nine points respectively behind the reigning champions .

Stephen Kenny accepted full responsibility for Bohemians' loss to Dublin City, describing it as his worst defeat in six years in management.

Injuries continue to plague Bohemians, however, with Ken Oman, Thomas Heary, Dave Morrison and Glen Crowe all out. Goalkeeper Shay Kelly and Robert Doyle return to the squad.

"There is not much we can do about the injury situation," said Kenny. "We are all disappointed about last week's defeat, but we have to put it behind us against Cork."

Striker John O'Flynn (knee) remains out for Cork. Winger Liam Kearney hopes to be fit having pulled out of the Ireland under-21 squad with a calf strain while Colin O'Brien returns from suspension.

Maintaining their positive start with a fourth win of the season at Richmond Park will be Shamrock Rovers' priority against bottom- of-the-table Dublin City, buoyed by their morale-boosting win over Bohemians last week.

Stephen Grant has trained all week following his back and hamstring strains and comes into a fully-fit Rovers squad, though manager Liam Buckley may be loath to tinker with the 4-3-3 line-up that's been so successful in recent games.

"We've done okay, have picked up a decent number of points and produced a few decent performances to go with it. We just have to keep it going," said Buckley.

Defenders Alan Keely (hamstring) and Tony O'Connor (knee) remain out for Dublin, but Ray Scully and Thomas McGauley are fit again.

"It's a monkey off our backs," said manager John Gill of his side's debut win in the top flight. "It was the way we did it and who we did it against that was most pleasing. We played a full-time outfit and beat them.

"We have to keep in touch. Rovers are on a roll and they were very impressive last week. If we can compete with and beat Bohs we are not too far away."

Barry Molloy and Gavin Whelan stand by to replace the suspended Alan Reilly as third-placed Drogheda United, with four wins from their last five games, strive to continue their revival with a sixth clean sheet at home to Longford Town.

Longford's Seán Francis, Alan Murphy, Philip Keogh and Brian McGovern have carried knocks this week but should be fit for consideration. Stephen Paisley is out with the thigh strain that meant he had to drop out of the Irish under-21s' trip to Poland.

Tonight's Fixtures

(7.45 unless stated)

NATIONAL LEAGUE - Premier Division: Bohemians v Cork City, Drogheda United v Longford Town, Shamrock Rovers v Dublin City (7.0), Shelbourne v St Patrick's Athletic. First Division: Athlone Town v Kildare County, Finn Harps v Bray Wanderers (8.0), Monaghan United v Sligo Rovers (8.0), UCD v Limerick FC ends

IRISH LEAGUE - Division One: Loughgall v Lurgan Celtic (7.30).

ENGLISH LEAGUE - Division One: Sheff United v Ipswich Town.