Greatest League in the World 2024 [new thread available]

Rovers (by a country mile)

Derry (££££)

Pats (if Tim stays on the bench and doesn't spend half the season in the stands!)

Sligo (could easily swap with Dundalk)

Dundalk (only a pre-season game but very poor last Friday. Should improve though and goals from Hooooban guaranteed)

Bohs (lost a lot of very good players - hard to call)

Drogheda (our defence is a concern but the new keeper looks good and a new CB in from Lincoln in 2 weeks - we are decent in MF)

Shels (Duff - I see trouble along the way and, bar Mark Coyle, they have lost better players than they have signed)

Harps (sorry Harps fans)

UCD (I hope)

We'll see. The fact that those players you mention mightn't suit Duff, if that is the case, doesn't mean that they aren't good players.

Brennan was FD Player of the Year last season.

They're both with Drogheda but I don't expect either will be starters ahead of Deegan, Markey etc. Time will tell though.

Out of interest, other than Mark Coyle (decent player), who do you think Shels have signed that are an upgrade?

I can tell you that, for example, Conor Kenna won't be unless they had a poor LB last season.

Corkred,

The majority of players Shels have signed from Ireland are from last season's PD bottom 3 clubs and one from Treaty United. I can't really comment on those signed from the UK or elsewhere.

You have your view and that's fair enough. As I said, time will tell.

As a Drogheda supporter, I'm hopeful that we will finish above UCD, Harps and Shels. But, of course, I may be wrong.

Good luck to Cork this season, I'm not sure what the expectations are but you're not a FD club and need out of there. I'd like to see you back in the PD as I always enjoyed an occasional pint in the Evergreen(?) or The Turners Cross Bar over the years.

Harps v Drogheda is off.

Yoyo had an injury during most of the middle part of the season and in a alot of games he was dumped out on left wing by Morris. I was surprised he initially re-signed under Duff even more surprised he left to go to up Harps in middle of pre-season no idea what the reason was, he's a useful player I liked him at UCD he never got a proper chance to get going with Shels last season

1. Rovers

2. Derry

3. Pats

4. Bohs

5. Sligo

6. Shels

7. Dundalk

8. Drogheda

9. Finn Harps

10. UCD

Think the top 3 and bottom 3 will be the teams above, middle 4 are harder to call the order. I've a feeling Dundalk are going to struggle this season again, Shels could really go either way, lots of hype and Duff could do very well but could easily go the opposite way and flop hard.

Struggling to find the motivation to go to the game tonight due to the crap weather. Tallaght was freezing last week can only imagine what it will be like tonight.

Doesn't seem very realistic that Shels will be able to buy Tolka and redevelop it to any sort of a reasonable standard.

This bit from DCC is very interesting:

"The City Council is willing to examine the proposal. However, it would be based on a cost recovery model for expenditure incurred by the City Council and a firm commitment from Shelbourne FC that Tolka Park can be re-developed in a reasonable period and that adequate finance is in place. We understand that the proposals will have no financial implications for either the City Council or the State."

Seems to be saying Shels will have to buy Tolka plus refund the council the money they've put into its upkeep since buying out the lease. And prove they can redevelop it without any help from the council or the state because all the funds from them will be going into Dalymount.

Why is the ‘new’ stand behind the goals in Tolka closed?

Bottled going to Tallaght in the end.

Enoyable game on rte so far, open and a bit of bite with a few tackles going in. Shels seem to start better but Pats could have had 2 or 3 goals by now really, they look much more settled than Shels do. Peach from Burns!

and again.

Great to have the league back, and brilliant to see such a huge crowd in Tolka again, hopefully attendances stay high even if results don't go Shels way.

Plenty of work rate and desire from Shels, but it was clear that the quality was with Pat's, and why they'll likely be operating at different ends of the table this year.

Forrester brilliant as ever, King looked very dangerous and although he didn't threaten to score himself, I thought there was some excellent play from Eoin Doyle.

Interesting to see how Sligo and Bohs go tomorrow (if it goes ahead).

Happy enough taking a point away at Oriel to start the season off, considering McEleney and Duffy didn't start.

McGonigle looked sharp up front, hopefully him and Duffy will give defences plenty of trouble this season.

I thought we looked light in midfield tonight, and I did think we needed to add a really tough, dominant midfielder to the squad. Hopefully Higgins can address the issue.

Looking forward to the arrival of Rovers at the Brandywell next week.

It seems improbable that the council will throw Shels out of Tolka so some sort of deal will be done. The talk of getting market value and recouping the money they`ve put into Tolka seems like the council talking tough. The most likely move would be for Shels to go back to where they were a few years ago and rent Tolka from the council. Maybe with the onus thrown on Shels to pay for its upkeep and redevelop it. Fair play to the SaveTolka group, they`ve been a big success.

No game tonight ☹️

Big crowd was expected too. That'll be a sizable financial hit.