League of Ireland 2016

The new season begins today as the four month long hiatus ends. In what is one of the longest off-seasons around it's good to have football back. The 2016 season should be an interesting season for many reasons. How will Dundalk cope without top scorer and midfield force Richie Towell?, will Cork City finally go one better?, How far will the Irish sides go in Europe? and will the promoted sides stay up?. So many sub plots and questions that will be answered over the next eight and a half months. The bottom club goes down automatically and 11th place enters the play-off winners between 2nd and 3rd in the first division. Top team goes into the champions league with second and third going into the Europa league. Depending on the cup winners, fourth is also a Europa league place.
So here is how I think it'll go.

1. Cork City
2. Shamrock Rovers
3. Dundalk
4. Bohemians
5. St Patrick's Athletic
6. Sligo Rovers
7. Derry City
8. Bray Wanderers
9. Galway
10. Longford Town
11. Wexford Youths
12. Finn Harps  

Cork City
Call me an optimist or biased but I have a feeling this will be the season we may finally get over the line. The signings made by the club are quiet interesting. Greg Bolger adds some bite to the midfield, Kenny Browne replaces Darren Dennehy, Sean Maguire gives us a bit of pace up front, Eoghan O'Connell is the big name signing on loan from Celtic until June. Gearoid Morrissey is back from Cambridge United and Stephen Dooley gives a wide option. The signings added to what we already had in the likes of Johnny Dunleavy, Alan Bennett, Steven Beattie and Karl Sheppard give me hope that we will be the team to beat. The president's cup victory over Dundalk ended the hoodoo of not beating the Louth side since 2012 and with that monkey off the back this could be a very interesting season on Leeside.

Promoted Teams
Wexford Youths will be playing in the top division for the first time ever this season. They joined the league in 2007 and nine years later are finally at the top table in Ireland. First division champions last season they will be up against it but it is certainly achievable. Last season both promoted clubs (Galway and Longford Town) stayed up.
Finn Harps were also promoted with Wexford Youths. The Donegal side dramatically overcame Limerick in the play-off. Harps haven't been in the top flight since relegation in 2008 and since then it's been a long arduous journey to get back up. Now that they have, the serious work starts here.

Dundalk bowed out to BATE Borisov
source: David Maher / SPORTSFILE

Europe
Last season the same four teams qualified for the European competitions. Dundalk into the champions league and Cork City, Shamrock Rovers and St Pats into the Europa league which also included UCD as fairplay entrants. Last season was generally mixed for Irish sides overall. Both Cork City and St Pats exited in the first qualifying round but that was alongside both Shamrock Rovers and UCD progressing into the second qualifying round.
Dundalk in the champions league were given a mighty tough task of overcoming BATE Borisov. Over the two legs they weren't outclassed but couldn't find a way through BATE in the second leg having gone down 2-1 in Belarus. For Dundalk this summer they will be looking to get a kinder draw than BATE in the second qualifying round.

Potential overachievers
A category that was won by Bohemians last season could well by retained by them again this season. They are my dark horse to get into the top four places which may or may not depending on the cup winners be enough to get into Europe. Last season Bohs pushed St Pats till the final day and they could go one better as Pats have lost some key players.
Other potential overachievers are Galway who are quietly assembling a decent looking team or maybe even Wexford Youths. I have Youths down to finish 11th but in this league predictions rarely come off so watch this space.

Potential underachievers
Sligo won this last season. On paper they had a decent squad that should've yielded a much higher league placing than 10th but this season I think St Pats are going to by my shout for this category. They have lost some key players in Greg Bolger, Kenny Browne and Chris Forrester is no longer around as well.

Karl Sheppard as top scorer? Why not!
source: Morgan Treacy/Inpho

Top scorer
Last season it was Richie Towell with twenty-five strikes from midfield, this season will be fascinating to see. A quick glance through the betting shows Chisty Fagan at Pats as the front runner, others include Mikey Drennan at Shamrock Rovers, Ishmail Akinade at Bohs and City's Karl Sheppard is also mentioned. Probably go for Sheppard in this, biased as I am.

First Division
Sadly it is still just the eight teams making up the second tier. It's as you were from last season with no club pulling out. Limerick will be favorites for the title and I expect them to win it. However outside of that it's the making of quiet a competitive division. Here is what I've gone for here.

1. Limerick
2. UCD
3. Shelbourne
4. Drogheda United
5. Athlone Town
6. Cobh Ramblers
7. Waterford United
8. Cabinteely