Clubs make huge strides in attempt to close the gap

National League Season overview: Emmet Malone suggests Cork, Shelbourne and Derry will still be the teams to catch this season

What is, perhaps, this year's most telling sign of the ongoing progress being made within the Eircom League comes not from any of the four or five sides most people expect to battle it out for this year's title, but from newly promoted Sligo Rovers.

An ambitious club that has done much to improve its infrastructure in recent years, Sligo are now back in the top flight with a new manager - Sean Connor - and a substantially revamped squad. What is remarkable is that 14 of the playing staff, as many as at defending champions Cork City, are full-time, a number that leaves little doubt about the club's ambition.

Such an investment by a newly promoted side would have been almost unthinkable not so long ago but Sligo's spending is just one more indication of the way clubs around the country have set the bar higher for themselves. Playing standards have improved, both grounds and training facilities have been upgraded while attendances and, more particularly, television audiences suggest that interest, both active and rather latent, is substantial and rising . . . if only a way can be found to more effectively tap into it.

The FAI's attempt to address the situation by revamping the league and setting new standards for those wishing to participate is hardly a surprise. Such things were talked about long before Genesis.

Anything that will maintain the rate of progress being made by clubs is, of course, a good thing. That the season is starting, however, amid so much uncertainty over just what it is a club must achieve to merit a place in the top flight even next year suggests that the association's determination to generate further change has gotten the better of it slightly.

Regional clubs like Sligo have been heartened by proposals that have emphasised a more rational geographical spread to the league while some of those based around Dublin, most notably Dublin City and UCD, feel, rather understandably that, having defied their critics with their achievements on the pitch, their futures are being undermined by a dramatic policy shift driven by those same critics and over which they can exert absolutely no control.

The coming 12 months in Irish football will be at least as interesting for what goes on off the pitch as who wins what on it.

The debate over the game's long-term future has in some ways, however, distracted attention from the substantial progress that has been made by leading clubs over the past few years. The transformation at Sligo Rovers during the short time that Connor has been in charge shows that an increasing number of clubs have the confidence to invest in talent, both local and imported, while coming to the conclusion that employing part-time footballers simply didn't deliver the required value for money.

Sligo are by no means the only outfit to make substantial progress on and off the pitch.

With the somewhat longer-term development project at Drogheda yielding a cup last year, there are high hopes around the place that Paul Doolin's side can now make the breakthrough in the league while Bohemians also have cause to believe they can bounce back from what was a disappointing campaign.

To win the title, though, looks a tall order for either with Cork, Derry and Shelbourne all looking strong again.

Damien Richardson's side deserved the title they clinched against Derry back in November for the quality of the football they produced when at their best and the consistency of the results they eked out even when they weren't.

In failing to replace Liam Kearney and Greg O'Halloran, however, Richardson has perhaps taken a gamble that will come back to haunt him. If his key players stay fit during the campaign ahead then Cork are sure to be in the final shake up but he doesn't look to have the reserves of either talent or experience to survive a sustained bout of injuries or suspensions.

Derry's best 11 might have been a little inferior to Cork's best last year but even then the squad looked to have slightly more depth to it and both Ken Oman and, particularly, Kevin McHugh look to be good acquisitions for the year ahead. Gary Beckett was a key figure for the Candystripes last year while Mark Farren's goals were invaluable and so it is not entirely clear how McHugh will be accommodated.

Shelbourne will be under considerable pressure to make amends for what was a poor year in 2005 by lifting the title. Pat Fenlon has added to the club's embarrassment of riches by signing Greg O'Halloran, Sean Dillon and Liam Kearney and the early signs are that all three will play key roles during the year ahead.

That may mean that Fenlon has three more of the club's established stars to keep happy behind the scenes but he must be accustomed to that particular problem by now. There has been none of last year's fanfare around Tolka Park about the new signings but the sense of expectation will be at least as great amongst the club's fans and backers. The former group would surely be dismayed by another season of disappointment. Fenlon and his players know only too well that the latter group would almost certainly be unwilling to tolerate it.