Until now, perhaps.

Record books do show the rivals have filled the first two places in the league table on six occasions but the only one that truly went to the wire was in 2010, when Michael O’Neill’s Hoops claimed the crown on goal difference to kick off a decade of turbulence for Bohs.

You have to go back to 1945 for the last FAI Cup final meeting between the sides – the only other one was in 1929 – a remarkable stat really given the relatively small number of clubs that have been consistently around the top tier of the game here.

It proves this enmity runs much deeper than tales of medals won and lost.

Why do these clubs dislike each other so much? There are attempts to paint it as a northside v southside thing and while this is now the easiest way to frame it to outsiders going forward, it’s not wholly reflective of the past, especially for the Hoops fanbase hailing from north of the Liffey who have watched their club play in a variety of locations.

In truth, the dynamic has been shaped by the instability that tends to draw a dividing line between the haves and have-nots in this country, with clubs rotating positions in that pecking order depending on their financial health.

Bohemians dropped their amateur ethos in 1969 and won a pair of league titles and FAI Cups in the 1970s to become a player on the scene. It was the loss of key men to Rovers in the early eighties that brought the hostility between clubs to a level that marked it out from other derbies. Liam O’Brien, Paul Doolin, Jacko McDonagh and Kevin Brady were amongst those to start out with Bohs before moving across the city to become key figures in the Rovers side that won four in a row from 1984 to 1987. Bohs were runners-up for the first two before struggling to keep pace.

It turned back the other direction in the 2000s, with Bohs crowned champions four times in a decade. The poaching of Tony Grant and James Keddy from the Hoops prompted upset fans to procure a pig’s head and bring it to Dalymount where it was chucked onto the pitch from the away section. Rovers adopted the underdog role in this era, flirting with extinction at the lowest ebb, but the 2010s flipped things around again with Bohs on their knees as the reborn southsiders found their feet in Tallaght. 

Even when Bohs were close to rock bottom, they mustered a response in the derbies, losing just once in 11 league meetings between June 2012 and the end of the 2015 season. 

The revival under Keith Long triggered a remarkable sequence of seven wins and a draw in eight league meetings between July 2017 and June 2019 before Stephen Bradley’s Hoops remembered how to win those matches again.

Bradley was mocked for describing the Rovers match as a ‘cup final’ for Bohs but there was an element of truth to it too given how it was treated in the context of their season.

There was also an ’80s throwback with Rovers steadily becoming the destination for players who broke through at Bohs. The chance to leave Bohs’ part-time set-up and join a full-time operation was cited as justification by players such as Roberto Lopes, Dylan Watts, Danny Mandroiu and Andy Lyons (the latter pair used it as a leg-up to the UK).

Liam Burt made that leap over the winter but Bohs hope to have closed that door by becoming a full-time operation themselves. While both clubs were steered through their choppiest waters by supporter power, Bohs would point to the investment of Dermot Desmond in Rovers as an example of how they are benefiting from the type of private backing the Gypsies would now turn away.

It’s been well-documented that the member-run Phibsborough club have built steadily and sustainably with some clever commercial initiatives and a strong community identity. The club is in much better health now than it was in the 2000s.

Crucially, they are now making strategic football moves too with the appointment of Pat Fenlon as a director of football to support new boss Declan Devine reflective of this. 

Money from Matt Doherty’s £15m switch from Wolves to Tottenham helped them along the way and the clause they hold on Evan Ferguson has the potential to be worth considerably more than the €3m or so Rovers have earned from Gavin Bazunu’s exploits.

The clubs are competing at all levels now (they each had four players in Colin O’Brien’s U-17 squad that qualified for May’s Euros) but there are departments where Bohs are clearly playing catch-up.

By the summer, Rovers will have a modern 10,000-seater stadium and attendances have grown in tandem but council support should deliver an improved Dalymount Park with a 8,000 capacity before the end of the 2020s. At the moment, demand for games comfortably outstrips supply regardless of the opposition.

This derby is the most precious ticket in town, though, and while Derry City are clearly going to be a major player for all honours in the forthcoming years, there’s reason to believe that Bohs v Rovers is developing towards the point where there isn’t the perception that one party is punching above their weight. The Rovers camp acknowledged as much on the eve of this game.

“I’ve no doubt they’ll be even stronger when they get the new stadium,” said Bradley, who did feel Bohs overplayed their part-time status in recent years. “It’s a rivalry we all know that’s only going to get bigger.”

The next chapter of this Dublin story could prove to be the most interesting one.