Farrelly will make do with what he has

National League Premier Division: With nine prominent members of last year's squad having departed during the close season, Bohemians fans will get their first real indication of what they can expect from their team this year when Gareth Farrelly's side takes on Shamrock Rovers in tonight's televised game at Dalymount Park.

Farrelly, who was only a bit-part player in last season's run-in due to injury but who will be at the centre of things this evening, is a little circumspect regarding the prospects of what looks to be a much diminished squad and declines to set any specific targets.

Given the outflow of talent ahead of his first full season in charge, however, the Dubliner looks to have a long-term rebuilding process on his hands and anything achieved between now and November will presumably be viewed as a bonus.

"The players that were here last year should have been winning leagues but a lot of them are gone now and so we just have to get on with it," he says. "It's going to take longer now but we have a lot of very talented young players with the club who could be very important to us within a couple of years.

"The aim now is to bring them through properly and if we can do that and play to our potential then we can still have what I would regard as a successful season."

Kicking off against a Rovers side that has undergone a few changes itself and not exactly enjoyed the best of pre-seasons might be viewed as opportune but the nature of this particular derby makes the outcome especially difficult to call, not least when so many of those will be featuring in one for the first time.

Former Bohemians boss Roddy Collins has a full-strength squad to choose from while Farrelly is missing just two players - Ken Oman (groin) and David Bracken (suspended) - and is expected to give debuts to Dessie Byrne, Jimmy Aggrey and Mark O'Brien.

The night's other two Premier Division games are both heavily affected by the way in which suspensions, carried over from the end of last season, all kick in at the start of this one.

Bray Wanderers are without Stephen Fox but their visitors, St Patrick's Athletic, have Ger Rowe, Paul Donnelly, Keith Fahey and Darragh Maguire all sidelined due to bans.

It will be a similar story at United Park where Paul Doolin's Drogheda starts the campaign in the absence of Damien Lynch, Shane Robinson, Pat Sullivan, Tony Bird and Declan O'Brien.

Their opponents, Derry City, are little better off for the game with Barry Molloy, Eddie McCallion, Damien Brennan serving suspensions while Kevin Deery is set to miss out with a knee injury.