A dramatic, sweet derby defeat of Dundalk could prove the catalyst for Drogheda United to drive themselves up the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division table towards safety, says Keith Treacy.
Treacy spent a year at the Drogs at a time when, under the guidance of Stephen Kenny, the Lilywhites were on a different level to their old rivals.
Times have changed. Dundalk came to Weavers Park on Bank Holiday Monday sitting at the bottom of the table, with the Drogs perched one place above them.
Kevin Doherty's charges had only two league wins under their belt prior to Monday's encounter, but a Hayden Cann winner in the 94th minute - after goalkeeper Jethren Barr had seen red - was an enormous shot in the arm for the Louth men.
"I'm delighted for my old club Drogheda. I've played in a couple of Louth derbies where Dundalk were absolutely pumping us for a long time. It's nice to see it reversed for once. It was really good from Drogheda.
"A lot of people are tipping them to be the ones to go down this season automatically, but I just don't see it. I watched them against Pat's last Friday night. Pat's were lucky.
"Pat's had their own chances. Chris Forrester had a good header, Kavanagh had one he should have finished in that game. But the centre-half Cann, who scored the last-minute goal against Dundalk, he had a really good chance against Pat's, it was on the edge of the six-yard box and it was just a fresh-air shot, he completely missed it.
"He looked more than capable (against Dundalk), it was a really good finish. That could be just something to galvanise Drogheda. As much as it will hurt Dundalk you'd expect them to bounce back, Noel King will get them back on the wagon.
"But Drogheda will be feeling, 'we're rolling into some feelgood factors'. They were unlucky not to get a draw or maybe even win the game against Pat's on Friday night. Then they go and nick it (against Dundalk) so there'll be a real felgood factor there."
The excellent form of newly promoted sides Galway United and Waterford means the scrap to stay out of the bottom two this year is going to be ferocious.
Everyone is dropping points on a weekly basis, summed up by Keith Long's Waterford plundering a 3-1 win at Shamrock Rovers on Monday.
It means the likes of Dundalk, Sligo and even St Pat's are getting sucked into the end-of-table scrap, and Treacy doesn't expect Galway in particular to tail off.
"Galway are a good team," added Treacy. "They know what to do and when to do it. They make very few mistakes, they have a very simplistic game plan. And that's not a poke, I like a simplistic game plan. As a player, if I was told to get it, run down the wing and cross it, brilliant, my job is easy as you like.
"There's so much talent in the league now. There's no whipping boys. Everybody is going to be playing for something."
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