As the league's management committee continued to concern itself with the ramifications of the FAI's decision to intervene in a dispute over fixtures and the results of the promotion and relegation races, the clubs moved a step closer to what many consider a doomsday scenario.

With Dublin City beating Finn Harps on Thursday, and UCD moving above Derry City the following evening, it now looks distinctly possible that both clubs will be in next year's Premier Division, a prospect that must fill even the most devoted fan of derby games with a certain amount of dread.

The three top teams in the first division are expected to win this week which would leave City needing no more than a draw at home to Bray to be sure of going up. Harps need their two rivals to slip up badly if they are to deprive them of the automatic promotion place while Bray will probably need to win on Saturday week.

Wanderers returning to the Premier Division would not, of course, do much to broaden the geographical base of a division already dominated by clubs from the capital but they would soften the blow by bringing some supporters to the table, something Ronan Seery can only hope that City would deliver.

The race for promotion, however, contains another potential time bomb for the league in the form of Limerick's relentless defiance of near bankruptcy. With the players having had to forego their wages for several weeks at one point this season, and most of the current board anxious to find new investors, the scene seemed set for a disastrous second half to the season. But the team has continued to defy the odds.

Currently two points clear of Kildare County in the third of the three play-off positions and with the Newbridge outfit still due to visit on the last day of the season, they have a serious chance of promotion. Quite what will happen if they achieve it, despite having no ground of their own and playing at one that comes nowhere close to fulfilling the requirements of the top division, remains to be seen.

The league, of course, badly needs the re-emergence of a strong Limerick side but having had their fingers burned before when they invested in grounds that the club subsequently moved away from, there will be anxieties amongst the league's leadership in relation to the side's current position.

Brendan Dillon at least must be thrilled by the prospect of UCD once again avoiding the trap door of relegation but there will be widespread horror amongst the majority of the top flight's other sides at the prospect of Derry City going down in their place.

Fortunately, it seems, few in Merrion Square have the time to be worrying about such things with Dillon, the rest of the league's officers and representatives of most of the leading clubs locked in a battle over what seems to be a clash between pro- and anti-Fran Rooney camps.

Rooney's decision to allow Bohemians and Shelbourne to appeal a league decision that they go ahead with a game last month which they wanted postponed, combined with the way he has dealt with their objections since, has dismayed the league's leadership. But there appears to be a belief amongst many of the prominent club officials that the matter should not be the source of further conflict and that Rooney should be handed more control over the club's fortunes by way of changes to the financial relationship between the two organisations.

Little or nothing was decided at yesterday's management committee meeting despite some four and a half hours of talks but further trouble seems certain ahead of what looks set to be an interesting a.g.m. in the new year.