It's the Friday of a first Bank Holiday weekend of the summer. There aren't many more days in the year that garner such hopes and possibilities.
You may be heading out, you may be getting out of town for the weekend, you may have plans with the other half, but if you've got even a passing interest in Irish football, remember that there's a pretty big event that worthy of your consideration on the best night of the summer.
RTE 2, 7.30pm, live from Oriel Park.
A lot of people will scoff at such huge billing for a League of Ireland game - but here's why you should make Dundalk vs. Cork City a part of your Friday night.
It is the big game of Irish football
These are the best two teams in the country for the last three seasons. Six major trophies have been up for grabs in the last three years. Dundalk have won four of them, while Cork have won just last year's FAI Cup, but have also finished runners-up in the league all three times. And comfortably so.
It's a similar enough story this season, with the sides sitting in the top two as we head into the last match before the summer break.
The quality on show
Look at Martin O'Neill's Ireland squad for the upcoming fixtures and you'll see eight former League of Ireland players. Cork can claim three of these, with Dundalk having two (Shane Long, Kevin Long, Kevin Doyle, Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle).
There's bound to be more Ireland stars of the future on show on Friday in a clash between the two best teams in the country. Including one in particular who could make the leap sooner rather than later.
Sean Maguire is not going to be on these shores for much longer. If rumors are to be believed, he's off to Preston on a three-year deal once the window opens on July 1st.
And despite losing Daryl Horgan, Dundalk still have nearly all the quality that wowed the country with their domestic and European performances last year. Patrick McEleney could have had a goal of the month competition to himself, such are the quality of his goals this season for Dundalk.
A goal to watch over and over again - Patrick McEleney's moment of brilliance against St Pat's #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/nYqhj1WJZd
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 21, 2017
The implications for the title race
Dundalk are scrambling to hold onto their crown and retain the league title for a history-making four in a row. They've already lost five games this year and we're not even half way through the season. To put that into context, they only lost six in the whole of the league campaign last season.
Cork, on the other hand, have had a phenomenal start to the season.
A win on Friday would make it four consecutive competitive wins over Dundalk, and more importantly would mean an astonishing eighteen point lead at the top of the table going into the mid-season break.
For years, we've heard the accusations about Cork not having the bottle to win a league. If the last week is anything to go by, that will be a hollow shout this year. In their last two games, they fell behind in both. Twice, they won in style.
Had it not been for a single draw against Galway United in Eamon Deacy Park, the Rebel Army would've broken an Irish football record that has stood since 1923 by beating Shamrock Rovers last Friday. Not bad.
The atmosphere
With the Leesiders topping the average home attendances year on year, and Dundalk not far behind them, there's going to be a huge level of noise.
With the way the camera is set up in Oriel Park, it's right above Dundalk's raucous 'Shed'.
Despite a number of incidents in the Louth ground in the past, Cork are bringing a solid number up to a ground where their record is poor enough.
Two of the loudest sets of fans in the entire league, with a massive game. Get out the earplugs for Brian Kerr.
There's a bit of needle
Managers Stephen Kenny and John Caulfield had a pretty amicable relationship up until last September.
It was then that Kenny suggested that 'a crisp packet' would win a penalty for Cork in Turner's Cross. He followed that up this season with an astonishing rant about the number of spot kicks his side had got in comparison with Caulfield's side.
That didn't go down too well with the men down south.
On the flip side, Mark McNulty's speech after the FAI Cup final ruffled a few feathers in Louth so expect a few hard tackles to fly in.
So it's all set up. The dominant team for the last three years aiming to stop the pretenders from taking a likely-unassailable lead at the top.
Half 7. RTE 2. If ever you watch a League of Ireland game, this is the one to pick.
