Wahey Irish soccer is back! I'm quite excited.Theres only three teams that are in with a realistic chance of winning the title I reckon. Current champions Drogheda, Cork City and St Pats. Don't really fancy Bohs to make the step up this year. Fenlons first year in the job and it'll take him a season or two to get things sorted I reckon. I'm gonna give St Pats a miss as well. They've brought a lot of new faces in but I reckon it may take time for the manager to work out his best team.
Drogheda won the title pretty handily last season and will have more or less the same squad this time round. Declan O Brien missed almost the whole of last season and his return this year will be like a brand new signing for them. He's a cracking player.
I have a sneaky fancy for Cork to go all the way this year. They were in a bit of a mess last year financially and lost 3 of their best players to English clubs yet still finished a respectable 3rd. They've got George O Callaghan back (One of the best players in the league) and Colin Healy has started to look like the player he was before his leg break. They've also brought in last years League top scorer Dave Mooney and he could prove a very shrewd purchase.
Another thing in Corks favour is the amount of Dublin/ North East derbies in th eleague. These games are usually tight passionate affairs where the poorer teams often up their game to beat their rivals. Cork won't be involved in any of that and could benefit from the Dubs taking points off each other.
Down at the other end I reckon UCD and Cobh are certs to go down. UCD have lost 7 of their 1st 11 from last season and Pete Mahon hasn't replaced any of them. He's taking a chance by promoting a lot of his U21's. Its a big ask for the young lads to keep them up. Cobh haven't bought anybody in either and looked doomed. Think Finn Harps might have enough to stay up so I reckon Galway and Bray will be scrapping it out to avoid the final relegation place
Heres how I see the League Table finishing out
Cork
Drogheda
St Pats
Bohemians
Derry
Sligo
Shamrock Rovers
Finn Harps
Galway
Bray
UCD
Cobh
Cork City outright @7/2
Declan O'Brien top goalscorer @13/2
St Pats top Dublin club @11/8
UCD to be relegated @1/2 (Big bet on this, its a cert I reckon)
by Chief
