Football: AVOID THE SHAM PAIN; PREMIER DIVISION: Cork City v Shamrock Rovers, tonight, 7.45pm O'Callaghan fires a warning to Rebels as title run-in reaches dramatic climax.

Byline: By DANIEL McDONNELL

GEORGE O'Callaghan has issued a wake-up call to his Cork City team-mates ahead of this evening's crucial Premier Division encounter with Shamrock Rovers.

The skilful playmaker believes that some of his colleagues were guilty of celebrating a successful season before the hard work was completed.

And O'Callaghan feels they will pay for that complacency unless they regroup and take full points from their remaining three games.

Friday night's draw with Waterford coupled with Derry's comfortable win in Bray leaves the Leesiders two points behind the Northerners ahead of tonight's game in hand.

"It comes down to the attitude of the players," warned O'Callaghan.

"People have got to take care of themselves, and stay in and eat right because maybe that's what hasn't happened lately. Some people are celebrating too much.

"I think when we beat Shels at home that people thought we'd won the league. And then when we beat Derry in the cup semi-final it was a big occasion but maybe people down here got carried away with it.

"We were ready to win the league this season and it's ours to throw away. We have to prove that we're good enough to win it now, and we know we have the ability to win all three games.

"It just goes to show, that we were top of the world three weeks ago and then we lose to Pat's and draw with Waterford and it feels like the end of the world again.

"People have to start realising that it's very important to win the league because this chance doesn't come around that often," he added.

"We've worked hard to get here and I want the day to come where I win a league medal, I stayed here with the intention of winning medals."

Cork are still firmly in control of their own destiny.

Victory tonight will put them a point clear at the top ahead of next weekend's penultimate round of games.

And, most crucially for O'Callaghan, three points this evening will ensure that Cork will have the chance to claim the title on their own turf when Derry visit Turners Cross on Friday week.

"That's the main thing," agreed the 26-year-old. "If we get the win against Rovers then at least it will go down to the last day.

"We have a tough game against Shelbourne on Friday night and strange things always happen this close to the end of the season. We could even win the league this week."

Realistically, though, all roads appear to be leading to Cork on November 18. And O'Callaghan is far from impressed that Derry appear to be enjoying a far smoother journey.

While tonight's opponents Rovers are, like Waterford, fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table, the Candystripes had no such worries against a Bray team with nothing to play for.

"Sure you could have sent the Cork women's team out against Derry on Friday night and they probably would have done better," laughed O'Callaghan.

"We're in a situation now where we're playing teams at the bottom of the league who are more dangerous than teams in the middle.

"We haven't made it easy for ourselves. We made mistakes against Waterford, but we came out of there with a point and have to look at it positively. It could be considered a point gained because we could easily have lost the game like we did against St Pat's. It's frustrating because we haven't been defending well lately and conceding goals that we weren't conceding earlier in the season."

That's the nature of pressure, although O'Callaghan feels that the current crop should be used to it as it's part and parcel of being a Cork player.

"I think when you play for this club you are expected to win every game these days. Especially when we have a level of attention down here that you wouldn't get in Dublin - Derry have something similar."

The visitors will most certainly be expected to win tonight. Failing to achieve that could be fatal.

"We know that, player for player, we should be better than Rovers," declared O'Callaghan.

"They've got good players, who can be good if they want to turn it on, but we've got to take the game to them. We've got to get the results because we can't afford any more slip ups.

"We do think we're the best team in the league but we've got to prove it and the league table won't lie at the end of the season.

"We've talked the talk and now we have to produce."

CAPTION(S):

WARY OF COMPLACENCY: George O'Callaghan; THREAT TO REBEL TITLE DREAM: Shamrock Rovers' Trevor Molloy and Keith O'Halloran