Football Season Guide

Having won the title in the last three seasons and having done so by a comfortable margin last time around, Dundalk will obviously enter the upcoming season looking to continue their domestic dominance. However, the Lilywhites were victims of their own success in a way, as their domestic dominance has caused attention from abroad for some of their best players, with midfielder Daryl Hogan and defence leader Andrew Boyle both leaving for English Championship side Preston. The departed duo are obviously big losses, but Dundalk are able to attract the very best players from most of the teams in the division and have several promising signings in Sean Hoare, Niclas Vemelund and Jamie McGrath, while forward Michael Duffy, who joins from Celtic, will be expected to become a regular this season. Apart from losing two of their key players, another big question about Dundalk is whether they can maintain their hunger after dominating for three years, but they are a stable club, with boss Stephen Kenny being in the fifth year of his reign, and he will be hoping that the new signing will provide his squad with a bit of additional motivation that they could lack otherwise.