Charlie from the Stands: Pat's the in-form team as they approach the home straight

In what is turning out to be the closest title race in years, we are three fixtures from the end of the season and six clubs are still in with a chance of being crowned champions.

Each gameweek that passes offers little respite or clarity our anxieties need, with all teams stumbling their way towards this season’s conclusion.

St Pat’s have hit this powerful run of form, and are making their late charge for league glory. Scoring goals and creating chances at will, Stephen Kenny has turned a team that were sitting third from bottom into a team that look like should results go their way, they could emerge as the unlikeliest winners.

When you have such a tight league where teams are drawing 12/13 games in a season, it is the team that takes risks and scores goals that will do well.

Cast your minds back to the early stages of the season, when Waterford were free-scoring with Padraig Amond and Maleace Asamoah in fine form. During this period, Waterford picked up some valuable points, particularly against the top teams in the league. Their manager, Keith Long comes from the same school of management as Kenny, men not afraid to take chances.

I remember when we were going for the league in 2005, Stephen Kenny coming in at half-time during a tight game that looked like it had all the makings of a draw. He stood up and said: “draws are no good to anyone. If you go for it when it’s a draw, and you win and lose 50%, you still have 50% more points than you would have had had it stayed a draw.” Poor Sean Hargan and Eddie McCallion were getting their crayons out to figure that one…

It sounds so simple, but it was very effective and it played into the confidence of our team. The amount of late goals that we scored during the second half of the 2005-2006 season was incredible.

So, what can we expect from St Pat’s remaining games? In their last eight games, they have 22 points and a goal difference of +14, playing an aggressive, risky and entertaining style football. It is teeing things up nicely for their encounter with Derry City on 25 October.

Derry on the other hand have relinquished the buffer that they could have had going into the final three games, with two very different 1-1 draws last weekend. We now see a situation of Derry having to match both Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers’ results to set up the finale that we all want - a showdown with Shelbourne at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium on 1 November.

Looking ahead at what’s left, I see Shelbourne having the run-in that may produce the most points, starting with their home-tie against Waterford this week. I say this because they have beaten them before in the same fixture, and Waterford are probably the only team that has nothing to play for, having secured Premier League status for another year. Derry and Shamrock Rovers play away to the bottom two, in ties that are just plain tricky, and ones that could throw up any result.

It will come down to the team and managers appetite for risk. St Pat’s face Galway United at Inchicore, in a match that is destined to be the battle of artilleries. Two contrasting styles of play, h best attack against the best defence, both sides still in with a chance of league glory. I can see John Caulfield and Ollie Horgan licking their lips already.

For my own sanity - and believe me, I’m doing this every week at this point – let’s look at the remaining fixtures, and instead of making myself look foolish again, align them with what happened in the corresponding ties earlier in the season.

Shelbourne – currently 54 points

Vs Waterford (H)

1-0 (17 May)

Vs Drogheda United (H)

1-1 (10 May)

Vs Derry City (A)

1-1 (06 May)

Finish with 59 points

Derry City – currently 52 points

Vs Dundalk (A)

0-0 (31 May)

Vs St Pat’s (A)

1-0 (17 May)

Vs Shelbourne (H)

1-1 (06 May)

Finish with 57 points

Shamrock Rovers – currently 52 points

Vs Drogheda United (A)

2-0 (31 May)

Vs Dundalk (A)

0-1 (10 May)

Vs Waterford (H)

1-3 (06 May)

Finish with 55 points

Mason Melia could go down in history as the player that changed the landscape of Irish football. For years, clubs from around the UK and Europe have snapped up players from the League of Ireland, taking advantage of the weaker position clubs here were in, securing their emerging talent for often next to nothing.

However, with Tottenham rumoured to have offered in the region of £1m, plus the significant add-ons and sell-on clauses, we could be looking at a very, very important deal not just for St Pat’s, but for any young talent going forward.

This deal will be analyzed and cited as an example for future players moving abroad, hopefully setting the bar for these moves. The most prominent young League of Ireland exports to date has probably been Gavin Bazunu, with his transfer to Manchester City from Shamrock Rovers, and his subsequent move to Southampton earning Rovers a pretty penny in the process. But deals like Gavin’s have been few and far between.

Clubs are left hedging their bets on sell-on clauses, hoping that the player they are selling can stay fit, break into a team and earn themselves a move.

These ‘rewards’ for League of Ireland clubs may seem attractive, but more often than not, amount to nothing more that hot air. That’s where Melia’s potential move is different.

It may be a seven-figure transfer fee, plus all the nuts and bolts of clauses. That can change the game here.

Now I want to alleviate expectation that Mason Miela is a generational talent, but he is certainly one of those who you believe can go on to do what Evan Ferguson did. His technical ability, strength, understanding of the game, courage (remember that last penalty in the Brandywell that took them to the final last year), bravery (loves the physical side of the game and will put his head in anywhere it is needed) and confidence is striking for someone so young.

As media and as fans, we talked up Ferguson, but honestly, for me Mason Miela is just as good, if not better. How he develops and what becomes of his career is up to him. That is why with a number of clubs around Europe interested in signing him, it is critical that he picks a club that will look after him and allow him to play men’s football, and not feed him to the graveyard that is U23 football in the UK.

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I like the option of loaning him back to St Pat’s, something which has proven to be very successful recently with Fleetwood, Hull and Arsenal talent all arriving in the league.

Nonetheless, should Mason make the move, this will set the tone for transfers to come.