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16th February 2018
09:44am GMT
After winning three league titles in a row between 2014 and 2016, Dundalk just fell short last season to rivals Cork City with a poor start to last season probably being the reason for not clinching that four in a row.
The Louth club are determined to try and win the title back from Cork this season with Stephen Kenny making some decent signings, with ex Liverpool players Krisztián Adorján and Daniel Cleary coming in along with Lithuanian international Karolis Chvedukas being the stand-out signings for the club.
The rivalry between Dundalk and The Leesiders hit boiling point at the back end of last season when Cork goalkeeper Mark McNulty picked up the microphone in a nightclub during the league title celebrations last season, goading their rivals.
This is something Stephen Kenny will have in the back of his mind and probably will give him and his team that extra bit of motivation that they will need to go on and win that title back off The Leesiders.
The champions won a league and cup double last season as John Caulfield finally got his hands on the big one after being second best to their east coast rivals.
The Cork manager will have to try and deal without two of his key players from last year in Sean Maguire and Greg Bolger who both went to Preston North End and Shamrock Rovers respectively with Maguire’s departure leading to a huge dip in form - The Leesiders only won three games after the Kilkenny native left the club.
The arrival of Derry duo Barry McNamme and Aaron Barry are fantastic signings and will fill the gaps of Greg Boger and Ryan Delaney. Tobi Adebayo-Rowling and Peter Cherrie are also noticeable buys and will bolster the quality of the squad as a whole.
Replacing Maguire’s goals is the big problem for Caulfield. The Leesiders struggled for goals when he left at the back end of last season only scoring 12 goals after his departure in late July but they could have a man in Graham Cummins who could replace the goals that Maguire has left. Cummins re-signed for the club in January and was prolific in his last spell in the League of Ireland scoring 21 goals in his final season as Cork City clinched promotion back to the Premier.
Without Maguire, Cork will struggle to reach the heights that they did last season. After his 20 goals, their second highest scorer was Sheppard with nine in the league and losing someone who can score that amount of goals will dent anyone’s title chances.
Liam Buckley will be looking to have a much better 2018 season compared to 2017 when they were battling against the drop. The Saints have made some fantastic signings, especially in defence, with the likes of Simon Madden and Kevin Toner huge coups for the club replacing the loss of Jordi Balk.
On the front foot, James Doona and Dean Clarke will add quality out wide for the likes of Conan Byrne who was by far Pat's best player, popping up with vital goals as they battled to avoid the drop. Christy Fagan will also be a huge asset along with Owen Garvan who has plenty of experience playing in the Premier League and Championship.
It will be interesting to see how Buckley sets his team out come the start of the season. Fatigue might play a part in The Saint’s quest to finish at least in the top four due to their small squad and they have to start well compared to last season where they only picked up three wins before they turned it around in July.
Rovers under Stephen Bradley have been a work in progress since he took charge midway through the 2016 season from Pat Fenlon.
The former Rovers player has taken a more youthful approach with him continuing that trend in the transfer window as three of his five signings are under the age of 23. Greg Bolger and former Bolton player Joey O’Brien have come in to add much needed experience to the squad after the departures of Simon Madden and Dave Webster.
There will be huge pressure on the likes of Graham Burke and Gary Shaw to provide the goals for the Tallaght club. Injuries have really affected The Hoops in the past few years especially in the striker department.
Brandon Miele will also be an important player this year to provide the goals and assists needed to battle for the European places. The former Newcastle prospect is a fantastic player to watch due to his close control and his eye for goal scoring some fantastic goals during his time in the league and he’s still only at the tender age of 23 even though it feels like he’s been around forever.
With all the positives that come with Rovers most seasons, I think the competition with the likes of St. Pat’s, Derry City and Waterford will be too much in the battle for third especially if the trend of picking up injuries to key players continues on this season.
Kenny Shiels' side did fantastically to secure European football last season, finishing fourth having some impressive wins over Shamrock Rovers - once at home and twice away.
The departures of Barry McNamee and Aaron Barry will hit The Candystripes badly as they were excellent assets to Shiel’s team to secure fourth place. They have signed some good players with a mixture of experience and youth with Rory Hale, Gavin Peers, and Ronan Hale being the three standout signings and the re-signing of Aaron McEneff is also a huge coup.
Expect Derry to have another solid season under Kenny Shields but with the likes of St. Pat’s, Waterford and Shamrock Rovers adding to their squads, it’s going to be a hard task for the Foylesiders to qualify for European football for the third consecutive season.
Relegation candidates going into the start of last season, Keith Long defied all the odds to finish fifth and he was nominated for the manager of the year award in the process.
They have lost two huge players who played massive parts to that success last season in Ishmahil Akinade and Fuad Sule who left to go to Waterford and Barnet respectively. The re-signing of fan favourite Keith Buckley will bring fantastic excitement at Dalymount and, also, brining in Karl Moore who had a successful first spell at The Gypsies will be an asset. Versatile midfielder J.J Lunney is a good edition too and will add depth in a number of midfield positions and full-back.
The Phibsborough club will need huge seasons from Dinny Corcoran and Keith Ward if they want to have any chance of breaking into the top six which will be an even bigger achievement than last season.
The Bit O’ Red just about survived last year, finishing 9th with Gerard Lyttle’s team picking up eight points in the last four games to save them from the drop.
Lyttle has brought in some solid players in the likes of Caolan McAleer, David Cawley, and Adam Wixted but the signing of former Liverpool player Adam Morgan has caught the attention of everyone involved in the league.
It will most likely be a season of struggle at The Showgrounds but if Gerard Lyttle can get Adam Morgan to fire on all cylinders then that could be the difference to keep Sligo in the division for another season.
The Super Blues had a solid season last time around under Neil McDonald with the likes of Bastien Hery and Chiedozie Ogbene having fantastic seasons under his management.
Sadly for them, the two have left the club along with Barry Cotter and Dean Clarke who also had excellent seasons. The re-signing of Shane Duggan and Shane Tracy will be huge in terms of quality and experience and it looks like Rodrigo Tossi is staying put after a solid season last time around.
It all seems a bit of a mess down at Limerick at the moment with Neil McDonald seemingly jumping ship to take up the assistant manager role at Scunthorpe United, much to the displeasing of the Limerick fans.
Billy Dennehy is the only real signing of note and will be the man to provide the ammunition for Rodrigo Tossi to score the goals to try and keep Limerick at float.
Tommy Barret has a serious job on if he wants to keep Limerick as a Premier Division team for 2019 after losing a lot of quality in the side from last year and not really replacing it with hopes really pinned on the likes of Dennehy and Tossi to provide the attacking spark.
The Wicklow club has had an interesting series of events over the last couple of months or so with statements about having an academy to rival the best in the world to saying that they operate in North Korea, it was all a bit strange.
Bray will have to rely on a more youthful squad compared to last year with Hugh Douglas and Gary McCabe being the only real experience of note that is in this year’s squad carried on from last season.
It will be interesting to see how the talented young players will cope in an environment like Bray so the likes of McCabe and O’Connor are even more important in terms of responsibility this season.
Dave Mackey has a massive job on his hands to keep this Bray side up but, with him being around the Irish game for a long time, he's a good tool to have.
Unfortunately, if you look at the sides around them, they have all bought wisely which is probably the reason why they will slip into the First Division.Explore more on these topics:
