Experience set to prevail in experimental campaign

Paul Buttner assesses the prospects of teams aiming for league success this season

With the weather sadly playing its part, it's been neither a long nor a hot summer as domestic football prepares for what must be deemed one of the most important seasons in its 81-year history.

The new interim season, which runs from this weekend until the end of January, will pave the way for the first of two full "summer" seasons (March-October) from 2003. That, coupled with the additional change to a 10-team Premier Division, represents the biggest experiment the league's hierarchy has ever risked.

While the switch from the traditional August-April campaign and the smaller top-flight league was formally agreed last year after much debate, the traumas of last season's bitter registration rows, and the public-image damage they caused, adds to the apprehension that pervades professional football in this country as it faces an uncertain future.

St Patrick's Athletic, central to the administrative wrangles of last season, have, ironically, provided the ideal fillip for the campaign to come by advancing through to the second round of the InterToto Cup. By so doing they provide a further irony in that one of last season's two "champions" won't begin the defence of their title for a fortnight at least.

On the surface there appears a semblance of peace, if not harmony, between St Patrick's and their north Dublin rivals Shelbourne, the chief instigators in pursuing the registration issues.

Shelbourne offered an olive branch by asking all fans to support St Patrick's in their match with NK Rijeka last Sunday. The St Patrick's manager Pat Dolan said he was finally happy that his players had received their due recognition for winning the league last season with the presentation of an unofficial trophy and winners' medals.

"At last we have been recognised as champions of Ireland and people will say simply move on," Dolan wrote in his programme notes last Sunday. "We are promised it will never happen again. Can we be sure of that? Have things really changed? We will have to wait and see."

On the positive side, the National League again promises to be one of the most competitive in Europe with up to six teams in with a realistic ambition of winning the title.

The winner will surely come from three of the big Dublin four of Shelbourne, Bohemians and St Patrick's Athletic while Shamrock Rovers, hoping to move to their new ground in Tallaght in October, will also expect to compete strongly.

The chief challenge from the provinces is a tale of two Citys poles apart: Cork and Derry.

The greatest expectation perhaps rests on Bohemians, who finished last season without a trophy and no European involvement. Stephen Kenny, perhaps the brightest young manager the game here has ever seen, enters his first full season having swept a broom through Dalymount. Twelve players have gone while five, including Paul Keegan, Derek Coughlan and Paul McNally have come in to boost the squad.

The addition of winger Ollie Cahill's pace and Trevor Molloy's skill and guile to an already talented panel must make Shelbourne slight favourites to retain their crown, even if a question mark hangs over Pat Fenlon in his first stint in management.

St Patrick's have been the least busy on the transfer trail during the close season, while Rovers will hope new boss Liam Buckley can bring them a trophy for the first time in nine years to cap the move to their new home.

With one team relegated and another to battle it out in the play-off, it's going to be a nervous season for Bray Wanderers, Longford Town, UCD and newcomers Drogheda United.

Bray have the personnel on and off the field to survive - some would say challenge for honours - while UCD's Paul Doolin will have to work another minor miracle in keeping the students up.

Longford and Drogheda have worked hard during the close season to get themselves into shape for the task ahead.

However, if losing Stuart Byrne and Paul McNally, two of their best players, wasn't bad enough, Longford's shock sacking of manager Martin Lawlor just 48 hours before the start of the season has thrown their preparations into chaos.

Drogheda's major close season coup was a lucrative sponsorship deal, rather than the signings that can keep them up.

If the Premier Division is likely to be competitive, the new 12-team first division, has, on paper, so many evenly matched sides predicting its outcome is a bit of a lottery. The contenders have the chance to assess the opposition during the new First Division Cup before the league starts in six weeks' time.

FAI Cup winners Dundalk may start favourites for that one automatic promotion spot, but they've lost three key players in captain David Crawley, James Keddy and Stephen McGuinness.

Finn Harps should again mount a serious challenge while Waterford United, Dublin City, under John Toal's new management, Monaghan United, Sligo Rovers and Galway United may expect to be in the shake-up.

Ambitious new club Kildare County, with Dermot Keely in charge, may be the big surprise in a truncated 22-match league that will be a sprint and not a marathon.