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1. Shamrock Rovers
2. Sligo Rovers
3. Drogheda United Great team
4. St Patricks Ath They need a new striker.
5. Derry city
6. Cork City
7. Dundalk I have many doubts between this three, one of them even could be fourth.
8. Shelbourne
9. Bohemians
10. Limerick
11. UCD
12. Bray Wanderers
The last five will fight for relegation.
I think Drogs look good in Setanta (too early to judge though) and i think Agent Kenny will turn Dundalk into a hard team to beat.Quote:
Originally Posted by oriel
Urgh. We don't need a new striker, we just need other our midfield and wide men to get more goals. Fagan is the perfect striker for our system and scored 16 (I think) goals last season which s a good return.Quote:
Originally Posted by Briuk
I'd be surprised to see Ramblers outside the top 5 in the First Division. The premier is more open than last year. Any one of 6/7 are in with a shout.
My predictions:
Premier Division -
1. Shamrock Rovers (C)
2. Sligo Rovers
3. St Patricks Ath
4. Drogheda United
5. Cáwk
6. Dundalk
7. Derry C
8. Limerick
9. UCD
10. Bohemians
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11. Shelbourne (Playoffs)
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12. Bray Wanderers (R)
First Division -
1. Waterford (P)
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2. Finn Harps (Playoffs)
3. Longford T (Playoffs)
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4. Athlone T
5. Wexford Youths
6. Mervue
7. Cobh R
8. Salthill D
My predictions:
Premier Division -
1. Shamrock Rovers
2. Sligo Rovers
3. St Patricks Ath
4. Derry
5. Hunky Dory Utd
6. Dundalk
7. Cork
8. Limerick
9. UCD
10. Shelbourne
11. Bohemians
12. Bray Wanderers
First Division -
1. Finn harps
2. Waterford
3. Longford
4. Athlone T
5. Cobh
6. Wexford
7. Mervue
8. Salthill
League Cup: Dundalk
FAI Cup: Sligo
I think above is probably the one I most agree with and probably reflects the realistic finishing for most teams, especially taking into account most of the squads are almost complete.
Not saying all will finish here, obviously, but wont be far off this I`d say, possibly swap Shels with UCD?
I'm going to be optimistic with Bray for once... If we can keep injuries down that is. We have the basis of a decent staring X1 - Quigley, Mitchell, D. O'Connor, K. O'Connor, Dempsey, Mulroy, Byrne and Waters. We also have a lot of players who need to step up there game this year - Webster, Doyle, Zambra, S. O'Connor and Knight were all just a little bit short of quality last season, but that could be down to youth and inexperience with some of them, let's hope last year will help them improve.
We've another really good bunch of young lads coming through the ranks, hopefully a few of them get a look in this year. Sean Hurley, Ger Pender, Ismahil Akinade, Conor Begley and Conor Early should all be looking to get into the squad this season and push for places.
9th place finish for Wanderers
Shamrock Rovers to win it, Dark horses are Drogs and Cork.
1. Shamrock Rovers
2. Pats
3. Sligo Rovers
4. Derry
5. Cork
6. Dundalk
7. Drogheda
8. Limerick
9. Bohemians
10. Shels
11. UCD
12. Bray Wanderers
Think we will do well to make top three this year to be honest and Shams look good from what I've seen so far.
I'll have to give this some thought. Impressive votes of confidence in Limerick so far. I would've thought maybe 9th at best for their first season back in the premier.
.why?Quote:
Originally Posted by dong
Premier Division
1. Shamrock Rovers
2. Sligo Rovers
3. Drogheda United
4. St. Patricks Athletic
5. Derry City
6. Cork City
7. Limerick FC
8. Bohemians
9. Dundalk
10. Shelbourne
11. UCD
12. Bray Wanderers
First Division
1. Finn Harps
2. Waterford United
3. Longford Town
4. Athlone Town
5. Cobh Ramblers
6. Mervue United
7. Wexford Youths
8. Salthill Devon
A few reasons:Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
1. North being out for at least a third of the season. If Eldinho fires on all cylinders who knows?
2. I feel the loss of Mcguinness will be felt hugely, despite the addition of Mcmillan.
3. We got our share of any luck that was going last year. That doesn't happen two years running.
4. Overall it looks like most teams are stronger this year.
If this is the case, then Boylesports can be caught on the hop, since they have North down as favourite for top scorer.Quote:
Originally Posted by dong
http://www.oddschecker.com/football/...top-goalscorer
Quigley at 7/1.
Sligo seem to have had a very impressive pre-season and opened the Setanta with a huge win so they have to be favourites to retain their title in my eyes. Croly does seem to have a bit about him as Rovers manager and he signed players he knows well so I'll expect Rovers to be much improved and push all the way. Pat's could be the big let down this season. I don't think they've really improved their squad and they still look like they'll struggle for goals, losing Croly from the coaching staff is also a big blow. Drogheda will also be doing well to match last seasons exploits.
In the first division Harps are looking impressive, Waterford might struggle with Dempsey and Maguire gone, Longford should compete but seem destined to struggle again under Cousins, Athlone could be a revelation or a masive flop under Collins so hard to know what to expect there.
Premier Division
1. Sligo Rovers
2. Shamrock Rovers
3. Cork City
4. Derry City
5. St. Patricks Athletic
6. Drogheda United
7. Dundalk
8. Bohemians
9. Bray Wanderers
10. Limerick FC
11. UCD
12. Shelbourne
First Division
1. Finn Harps
2. Athlone Town
3. Waterford United
4. Longford Town
5. Wexford Youths
6. Cobh Ramblers
7. Mervue United
8. Salthill Devon
I think the gap between first and premier is bigger this year.
First Division
1. Waterford United
2. Athlone Town
3. Finn Harps
4. Longford Town
5. Wexford Youths
6. Cobh Ramblers
7. Mervue United
8. Salthill Devon
In my opinion the last four are clear. For the top four, I'll go with Waterford, they will invent something to be more competitive, Athlone, most improved squad, Finn, improved, but not so much in my opion and Longford, but they have lost a too much important players.
He was out for nearly half of last season!Quote:
Originally Posted by dong
Quote:
Originally Posted by dong
1. You had North out for half a season last year
2. McMillan is as good
3. What luck? Stephen Kenny?
4. This one always confuses me, I mean you have Pats ahead of Sligo yet if anyone is slightly weaker at the top IMO its Pats.
Sligo have lost two players from last years squad, big players I agree, but I cant help but feel your being pessimistic to dampen expectations?
I agree Sligo were lucky perhaps that Shams were so poor last year and certainly I'd expect them to be stronger under Croly but I can only see it as a two horse race this year. Perhaps a tight table overall but realistically only see one of the Rovers winning the league.
Sligo
Shams
Drogs
Cork
Pats
Derry
Limerick
Dundalk
UCD
Shels
Bohs
Bray
I am going for Pats to win, a more competitive league than the betting would indicate. I expect Cork and Derry to be in the race for good while as well. Dundalk to finish ahead of Drogheda, Bohs to be 7/8 position and I think UCD are the most likely to be relegated.
1st divison: I expect Roddy to work his magic and win this with Atlone ahead of Finn Harps. The big question down here in the west is will Mervue have any chance of promotion? The under-achieved in a big way last year with the players they had.
I share a bit of dong's caution, but I can't see us having anything other than a stronger squad than last season. We're going to get way more out of Connolly and Conneely for starters. McMillan training as a fulltime pro is an exciting prospect. Elding's got off to a good start and gives us a dimension we didn't have last year.
Any good fortune we had last season was countered by dire luck with injuries, Quigley's long suspension and at least as many crap decisions against us as in our favour.
There's at least four, maybe five sides that can realistically have designs on the title. I think we and Shams have marginally the strongest squads. Their biggest advantage comes ironically from doing so badly last season - no European distraction. We had a bit of a dip last year and it was probably a blessing that it only lasted two games.