20 Teams, 2 Divisions, 1 National League

Here are some of the teams that have been mentioned through various social media outlets. Some have confirmed their interest while talk and rumours have been connected to these clubs.



Leinster
Shamrock Rovers B
St. Francis
CK United
Lucan United
St. Mochtas
Gorey Rangers
Ballymun United
Meath DL
Mullingar Town
Newbridge Town
Maynooth University
Glebe North
Wayside Celtic
Kildare DL
Kilkenny DL
Carlow DL
Swords Celtic
St. Kevins Boys
Dublin University
Tullamore Town

Munster
Limerick City
Peake Villa
St. Michaels
Clonmel Town
Carrick United
UCC
Killarney Celtic
Fairview Rangers
Pike Rovers
Newmarket Celtic
College Corinthians

Connaught/Ulster
Mayo FC
Salthill Devon
Letterkenny Rangers
Cockhill Celtic
Bonagee United

Please add any further clubs that may have the potential to show interest.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nr637

Fair enough m8, I stand corrected as I don't know the area. But as referenced in my previous post, I still think that if you have teams applying from the same area such as the two Tipperary based teams, it might be more practical to follow the Mayo or Kerry FC model.

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Looking at the potential list there is now 4 Tipp teams in the running. Will be interesting to see how the FAI select teams. Also on the standard I would have presumed the MSL (Cork+) league would have been a stronger league than the junior teams. Would there be a massive divide in standard? Could be a case of too much of a gap between the junior clubs selected for the new league and current teams in the LOI Div 1? Of the Tipp teams I think only St. Michaels and Clonmel have won the FAI junior cup in the past. Could be wrong on that.

No big interest in Waterford. Villa FC perhaps?

As it seems so popular, I wonder if you reopened the application window now, would you get even far more applications since it seemed to be such an unknown entity before.

I am sure there are some clubs waking up today kicking themselves that they did not apply.

Im dissapointed to be honest, i feel like the FAI have fudged the whole thing and are just creating a stoger varsion of the various Country leagues while weakening the Leinster senior league rather than actually creating a third tier or a pyramid.
Maybe in time it could become this but it seems a stretch.
From Rovers perspective i see zero point in it tbh, retaining players to play in a jumped up LSL wont be very attractive if they are good enough that we want to retain them they will be good enough to go and sign an play for Bray/UCD or Shels /BOhs/PAts .

As regards it beiong amateur that wont stop clubs who are already paying players in cash continuing to do it, its been happening for years and wont stop, i even got a few bob myslef about 100 years a go from an LSL team

I don't think 67 clubs applied. Only a few clubs have announced that they applied. The FAI are still not to be trusted.

Or else they're refraining from raising local expectations until they learn the licensing requirements/stages of the process that need to be negotiated between now and the next 12-15 months?

Clubs could just look at First Division licence requirements for a rough idea of what will be required

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nr637

Here are some of the teams that have been mentioned through various social media outlets. Some have confirmed their interest while talk and rumours have been connected to these clubs.



Leinster
Shamrock Rovers B
St. Francis
CK United
Lucan United
St. Mochtas
Gorey Rangers
Ballymun United
Meath DL
Mullingar Town
Newbridge Town
Maynooth University
Glebe North
Wayside Celtic
Kildare DL
Kilkenny DL
Carlow DL
Swords Celtic
St. Kevins Boys
Dublin University
Tullamore Town

Munster
Limerick City
Peake Villa
St. Michaels
Clonmel Town
Carrick United
UCC
Killarney Celtic
Fairview Rangers
Pike Rovers
Newmarket Celtic
College Corinthians

Connaught/Ulster
Mayo FC
Salthill Devon
Letterkenny Rangers
Cockhill Celtic
Bonagee United

Please add any further clubs that may have the potential to show interest.

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Mad that that extensive list still only contains 36 clubs = barely half of the number we're told have applied.

You really do have to wonder.

you can add St Patrick's CY to that list - they confirmed on Twitter that they had applied

I've nothing to back it up but if there were 67 applicants including most of the LSL top flight, I'd be amazed if Tolka Rovers and Malahide weren't among them

And don't forget that these are just expressions of interest. It doesn't amount to longlist of candidates and there's nothing to stop the FAI shaking a few trees to see if they can persuade others to take part. That's one very good reason not to publish the list

Leinster

Shamrock Rovers B
St. Francis
CK United
Lucan United
St. Mochtas
Gorey Rangers
Ballymun United
Meath DL
Mullingar Town
Newbridge Town
Maynooth University
Glebe North
Wayside Celtic
Kildare DL
Kilkenny DL
Carlow DL
Swords Celtic
St. Kevins Boys
Dublin University
Tullamore Town
St Patrick's CY
Tolka Rovers
Malahide


Anymore suggestions, as that's our best form of information!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Buckett

I don't think 67 clubs applied. Only a few clubs have announced that they applied. The FAI are still not to be trusted.

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I really dont understand why you would be surprised to be honest. The biggest issue right now is there is no path for a lot of these clubs to join the LOI, and if there was, its a massive jump. A brand new tier fixes that issue. They would be jumping in with 19 other teams.

A lot of them dont exactly trust their own local leagues either, especially the LSL.

Couple that with the current bounce of the LOI (and most importantly the current stability), I would not understand why any club from any urban center wouldn't at least explore the option to be honest.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nr637

Leinster

Shamrock Rovers B
St. Francis
CK United
Lucan United
St. Mochtas
Gorey Rangers
Ballymun United
Meath DL
Mullingar Town
Newbridge Town
Maynooth University
Glebe North
Wayside Celtic
Kildare DL
Kilkenny DL
Carlow DL
Swords Celtic
St. Kevins Boys
Dublin University
Tullamore Town
St Patrick's CY
Tolka Rovers
Malahide


Anymore suggestions, as that's our best form of information!

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If there's a team from Mullingar i'm surprised it's not Mullingar Athletic , always seemed far better run and better facilities . Only disadvantage being based about 4 miles out of town .

With the talk of clubs merging in a post further up, this might interest some of you

https://www.theguardian.com/football...n-real-bedford

2 from Louth rumoured not listed but both would be mad for different reasons. Dont see Athboy with a former FAI suit cheerleading things in Meath and a Dublin based club that was suggested to be 1 of a couple with questionable funding, maybe the noose is tightening on the Dubai connection.

Two more confirmed: Monaghan United and, apparently, Salthill Devon.

https://www.northernsound.ie/sport/m...-league-254245

Quote:

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Originally Posted by legendz

Presumably any club seeking promotion to the First Division will have to have academy structures in place to gain promotion. Does Dublin need more LoI academies if say St Francis were pushing for promotion and that is one of the requirements?

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What kind of structures are you thinking? I guess the only real criteria currently are that clubs can field teams at U13s, U15s, M&WU17s and U20s as well as afford to pay for each teams travel. I agree with you on having this in place but it'll probably be a prerequisite for promotion to the First Division rather than for this level.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

Do many LoI clubs still have link ups with schoolboy clubs? It seems to have gone very quiet in that regard eg Dundalk and Malahide. Have Bray taken on the Cabinteely connection and so on?

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I know that Bohs ended their exclusive agreement with St Kevin's back in July 2023 but the last I heard they still had partnerships with Belvedere, St Kevin's, Castleknock Celtic and Swords Celtic. Not sure what teams get out of it besides possible sell-on fees though.

Haven't seen or heard anything about Cabo or Malahide. Heard rumours about Shelbourne offering free tickets in exchange for facility use but nothing concrete. Certainly seems like there's opportunities for both pro clubs and underage clubs to develop stronger relationships that could be mutually beneficial.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nr637

I still think that if you have teams applying from the same area such as the two Tipperary based teams, it might be more practical to follow the Mayo or Kerry FC model.

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Bearing in mind that the existence of a County team makes it that much harder for another club(s) within that county to aspire to Senior football, how many other counties are there which have a similar Youth set-up to Kerry and Mayo; also have a suitable stadium/facilities; but don't already have a Senior (PD or FD) club?

A handful? Certainly nowhere nearly enough to get anywhere near filling a 2 Division/20 club NL. While there is no certainty that new county model teams will work i.e. Kerry were always the standout candidate and a decent bet, Mayo possibly too, but Leitrim? Clare? Roscommon?

Interesting to read from that Shannonside article that there was no interest from Roscommon - had been under the impression that Castlerea Celtic had a decent history in junior soccer competitions, even if not actually winning any honours?

Anyhow, I chanced upon an article on the RTE site covering the roblems the GAA are facing with the seemingly inexorable movement of population from rural to urban areas. With GAA being predominantly rural, their country clubs (the majority) are struggling to retain numbers etc; while clubs in urban areas (the minority) are struggling to accommodate increasing numbers:
https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/20...urban-dilemma/

The article also included a map showing just how concentrated the population of Ireland is, both ROI and NI, with nearly half living in a narrow strip along the Eastern seaboard:

https://img.rasset.ie/0021f96b-614.jpg?ratio=1.78
(Ireland's east coast has almost half the population of the island - 43.5% - but less than a fifth of its GAA clubs - 18.6%)

The point being that with Football clearly being an urban sport, might you not expect to expand and grow the league set-up from where the people actually live, rather than in rural areas where far fewer people live and which don't have a particularly strong footballing tradition?