2026 Predictions and early musings

[sbgawa]

Opening a stand doesnt guarantee increased attendances.
How many matches were sold out in Shels in the season just gone??
Was there 4 or 5?
That being the case the incremental value of having a new stand will be zero bar in the 4 or 5 mathes that were sold out?
Lets say for arguements sake they could have got an extra 1000 in at 4 matchs at an average ticket price of €10, thats 40k in additional income.
I appreciate that it is building for the future etc etc but in terms of extra income in 2026 id wager the costs of opening the stand will ootweigh the extra income.

Yes they can try to sell more season tickets at a discount maybe and invite academy kids along to matches which might build "paying" crowds in the medium term but if they are increasing the playing budget based on a new stand and the "hope" that people will appear they are being optimistic at best.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Does the new increased capacity in Tolka now bring it back into play for a Bohs move or is that door still firmly shut.

To be honest I think it would be a good option for both clubs - growing the LOI overall is in the interest of every LOI club and this would benefit both during the Dalymount reconstruction. Isn't there also rumours of Bohs possibly using the RDS for the Dublin games?

[MoydowMonty]

Since it's difficult to find any info on, does anyone know if all the fixtures are out for the greatest competition in the world, the Leinster Senior Cup?

I see the group Athlone are in seem to have dates set for their games. Surely if one group of fixtures is set then all of them have too? But of course the magic of the Leinster Senior Cup is that it works in mysterious way

[kksaints]

Since it's difficult to find any info on, does anyone know if all the fixtures are out for the greatest competition in the world, the Leinster Senior Cup?

I see the group Athlone are in seem to have dates set for their games. Surely if one group of fixtures is set then all of them have too? But of course the magic of the Leinster Senior Cup is that it works in mysterious way

There's some on FAI Connect for the group with Wexford, Bohemians, Bray and Fingal United but nothing else.

[pineapple stu]

Yep - and it's worth noting that both the first and last fixtures in that group are from the second round of matches. Only the LSC could manage that.

[ger121]

Since it's difficult to find any info on, does anyone know if all the fixtures are out for the greatest competition in the world, the Leinster Senior Cup?

I see the group Athlone are in seem to have dates set for their games. Surely if one group of fixtures is set then all of them have too? But of course the magic of the Leinster Senior Cup is that it works in mysterious way

They are indeed. Bohs are actually away to Bray on the opening night of the Premier Division. I assume that will still go ahead. 2 nice fixtures that weekend to help kick-off the season.

[pineapple stu]

I see UCD have friendlies confirmed now for 10/16/23/31 Jan, so hard to see how we're going to fit in three LSC games as well (unless we put out the 19s against the non-league suffers, which we did last year)

[MoydowMonty]

Since it's difficult to find any info on, does anyone know if all the fixtures are out for the greatest competition in the world, the Leinster Senior Cup?

I see the group Athlone are in seem to have dates set for their games. Surely if one group of fixtures is set then all of them have too? But of course the magic of the Leinster Senior Cup is that it works in mysterious way

The fixtures starting to trickle out with seeming randomness and lack of consistency, as if they read this thread and remembered they hadn't set the fixtures, so they scrambled to arrange it with the same energy of leaving all your homework till the night before. God bless the Leinster Senior Cup, under it's leadership we shall reach new heights

[2 Year Contract]

https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soc...eading_button#
I’m not sure who exactly had the authority to give the BetVictor ‘supercomputer’ it’s name but it’s safe to say that’s the last name I’d be giving it after predicting Pats to finish 10 points ahead of Shels, 18 points ahead of Bohs, Galway to come 4th above those two sides also with Caulfield’s men to be second top goalscorers in the league not to mention Drogheda in 8th!

[total hoofball]

I requested ChatGPT to do it's own simulation of the final table and the result was looking realistic enough until I looked down to 9th and 10th spots

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Shamrock Rovers	36	22	8	6	68	31	+37	74
2	Derry City	36	20	9	7	63	36	+27	69
3	St Patrick’s Athletic	36	18	10	8	55	33	+22	64
4	Shelbourne	36	16	11	9	50	36	+14	59
5	Bohemians	36	15	10	11	52	39	+13	55
6	Dundalk	36	12	11	13	46	45	+1	47
7	Sligo Rovers	36	11	10	15	39	50	-11	43
8	Drogheda United	36	10	10	16	37	52	-15	40
9	Cork City	36	7	9	20	31	61	-30	30
10	U.C.D.	36	4	6	26	21	71	-50	18

[nigel-harps1954]

Chat GPT data is largely from 2024, so it presumably takes the teams who finished the 2023 season.

[Roones26]

CoPilot has produced a fairly believable, interesting one. Though I suspect the First Division is way off

Premier Division

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Shamrock Rovers	36	21	8	7	62	30	+32	71
2	Derry City	36	20	7	9	57	34	+23	67
3	Shelbourne	36	16	12	8	48	35	+13	60
4	St Pat's Ath.	36	15	11	10	46	36	+10	56
5	Bohemians	36	14	10	12	47	43	+4	52
6	Drogheda United	36	12	11	13	39	44	-5	47
7	Sligo Rovers	36	11	10	15	41	51	-10	43
8	Galway United	36	10	9	17	36	50	-14	39
9	Waterford	36	9	10	17	38	55	-17	37
10	Dundalk	36	6	8	22	29	61	-32	26

First Division

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Cork City	36	23	8	5	68	24	+44	77
2	UCD	36	17	11	8	54	36	+18	62
3	Bray Wanderers	36	16	10	10	58	44	+14	58
4	Athlone Town	36	15	10	11	53	48	+5	55
5	Finn Harps	36	13	11	12	46	45	+1	50
6	Wexford	36	12	12	12	49	51	-2	48
7	Treaty United	36	11	11	14	43	48	-5	44
8	Cobh Ramblers	36	10	10	16	41	57	-16	40
9	Longford Town	36	7	10	19	38	62	-24	31
10	Kerry FC	36	6	9	21	36	62	-26	27

[legendz]

CoPilot has produced a fairly believable, interesting one.
Premier Division

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Shamrock Rovers	36	21	8	7	62	30	+32	71
2	Derry City	36	20	7	9	57	34	+23	67
3	Shelbourne	36	16	12	8	48	35	+13	60
4	St Pat's Ath.	36	15	11	10	46	36	+10	56
5	Bohemians	36	14	10	12	47	43	+4	52
6	Drogheda United	36	12	11	13	39	44	-5	47
7	Sligo Rovers	36	11	10	15	41	51	-10	43
8	Galway United	36	10	9	17	36	50	-14	39
9	Waterford	36	9	10	17	38	55	-17	37
10	Dundalk	36	6	8	22	29	61	-32	26

Two weeks to go. Will give final predictions before each division starts I think the PD top 5 will be the same, not sure on the order. Tempted to give Dundalk a vote of confidence to finish 9th at least. Going against the grain, Drogheda might be my prediction for 10th. Sligo usually do enough. Galway and Waterford need to be careful.

[ontheotherhand]

Two weeks to go. Will give final predictions before each division starts I think the PD top 5 will be the same, not sure on the order. Tempted to give Dundalk a vote of confidence to finish 9th at least. Going against the grain, Drogheda might be my prediction for 10th. Sligo usually do enough. Galway and Waterford need to be careful.

Waterford have signed fairly well I think. Galway maybe not as well. Think both will be clear of Dundalk though with Dundalk to go down by a decent margin.

Shels will be closer to the top imop. Shootout between us, Derry and them for the league. If Derry keep Duffy and McLean fit they could do it but if they don't I could see them slipping. We are a bit light up top as it stands, but the next few weeks could change everything.

Will give it a go anyway:

1. Rovers
2. Shels
3. Derry
4. Bohs
5. Pats
6. Drogheda
7. Sligo
8. Waterford
9. Galway
10. Dundalk

1-3 and 6-9 the hardest to pick. Won't be many points between those groups.

[dansultheman]

I made some predictions a few week ago, with the signings starting to come to a close with just two weeks from the start of the season, here is my latest predictions.

Premier Division

1. Shamrock Rovers
2. Derry City
3. Shelbourne
4. Pats
5. Bohs
6. Sligo
7. Drogheda
8. Waterford
9. Galway
10. Dundalk

First Division

1. Cork City
2. Cobh
3. Kerry
4. Wexford
5. Bray
6. UCD
7. Finn Harps
8. Athlone
9. Treaty
10. Longford

[desaintsno.12]

Pats certainly won't be breaking into the top 3. 4th maybe, but feel we skipping back to 5th.
Very much feels like the wheels are going to come off this season.

[oriel]

Took me a while to think of this and if you had asked me pre xmas, we were 10th all day long, happy with a good bit of PD exp, so we have a chance now.

Premier Division

1. Shamrock Rovers / Derry City) I just can't split them - will re-post after first few game
3. Shelbourne
4. Pats
5. Bohs
6. Drogs
7. Sligo
8. Waterford
9. Dundalk
10.Galway

First Division

1. Cork City
2. Cobh

[TonyD]

Pats certainly won't be breaking into the top 3. 4th maybe, but feel we skipping back to 5th.
Very much feels like the wheels are going to come off this season.

I wouldn't necessarily be quite that pessimistic. We still have the bones of a good squad and I feel we're capable of doing a lot better than last season.

[sessylU]

I sometimes wonder if Pats might be brilliant this season. They disappointed last year, but still a very good squad, still a very capable manager. I'm not predicting anything, but it wouldn't be outrageous for them to be in the running for the title.

[desaintsno.12]

I wouldn't necessarily be quite that pessimistic. We still have the bones of a good squad and I feel we're capable of doing a lot better than last season.

Last season would suggest we do not have a good squad though - which would definitely be my view, we were poison imo. Too many bang average players.
Worried/disappointed that Kenny didn't change the backroom team at all.
We need 3-4 players that will improve the squad. From what I hear, that won't be happening.