While Paul O'Brien's loyal Railway Union brigade seem well capable of forging their way back to the first division of the Leinster League, Trinity and freshly promoted UCD face the considerable challenge of retaining a berth in the top sphere.
The students' campaigns begin tomorrow, with Trinity tackling Glenanne at Santry and UCD at home to Aer Lingus, and it is encouraging that both universities have been boosted by players from non-campus clubs switching allegiance.
Trinity, though missing Charlie Carroll, Gordon Lindsay and Alistair Cullen from the team which survived in the premier division by edging out Railway in the play-off last April, have a notable recruit in Stephen Findlater from YMCA, the Irish Senior Cup finalists. Brian Scully, who captained Suttonians, has also joined the college side, which is captained by Christian Judd. The matches this month, not least Glenanne's visit, will be particularly testing while Michael Harte is away with the Ireland under-21s in the Junior World Cup in Tasmania.
UCD are fortunate to have virtually all of last season's squad available. Robin Willis is at the helm and he welcomes back Martin Lynch from Railway and Paul Fitzroy from Pembroke Wanderers. Adrian Missen has joined from Corinthians along with Garry Ryan, also from Pembroke.
UCD face a testing opener against Aer Lingus, for whom the Bane brothers plus Brian Gray and Derek O'Gorman played with impressive vigour against Avoca last weekend.
Whether Avoca can poach another point tomorrow at Pembroke's expense will make proceedings interesting at Serpentine Avenue, particularly if Michael Gunn again shows his prowess in midfield. Equally, Will Powderly could be a key figure in YMCA's visit to Three Rock Rovers.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)