League of Ireland First Division: team-by-team guide

It's all to play for as the campaign gets underway Friday evening. 

THIS GUY: Shane Griffin, left, and Shane Griffin during a Cobh Ramblers squad portraits session at The Commodore Hotel in Cobh, Cork. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Manager: Dario Costelo 

Owners: John Hayden.

Last season finish: 4th.

Ins: Matt Connor (Waterford), Dean Williams (Shelbourne), Bastien Hery (Longford Town), JR WIlson (Sligo Rovers), Noe Baba (Finn Harps), Kyle O'Connor (Longford Town), Adam Wixted (Longford Town), Declan McDaid (Bohemians), Kailin Barlow (Sligo Rovers), Ben Feeney (Bray Wanderers), Billy Gilmore (Bohemians - loan), Gideon Tetteh (Shamrock Rovers).

Outs: Dean Ebbe (Dundalk), Enda Minogue (Dundalk), Shane Forbes (Carrick Rangers).

Looking up or down: With others strengthening significantly around them, it way well be that Athlone finish in the same position as last year but they will have a go chance of going up via the playoffs.

Player to watch: Gideon Tetteh. The talented young winger impressed at Athlone last season during his loan spell from Shamrock Rovers and after making the move permanent, he will be hoping to kick-on and improve from his four goals in 31 appearances in 2024.

Verdict: 4th.

Bray Wanderers 

Head coach: Paul Heffernan 

Owners: Tony Richardson

Last season finish: 5th (beaten by Drogheda United in relegation/promotion playoff final).

Ins: Dylan Barnett, Cian Curtis (Wexford), Rhys Bartley (St Patrick's Athletic), Thomas Considine (Treaty United), Cian Doyle (Shelbourne U20), Jordan Tallon (Longford Town), Harvey Warren (Shelbourne U20), Callum Costello (Waterford - loan), Kyle Degelman (Lynx FC), Benjamin Fagbemi (Dundalk U20), Danu Kinsella-Bishop (UCD).

Outs: Harry Groome (Dundalk), Shane Griffin (Cobh Ramblers), Kieran Cruise (Drogheda United), Darren Craven (Malahide United), Ben Feeney (Athlone Town), Zayd Abada (Wexford), Cristian Magerusan (Steaua Bucharest), Daniel Chukwu (Longford Town).

Looking up or down: Last year’s heartbreaking promotion/relegation playoff final defeat may be tough to overcome.

Player to watch: Dylan Barnett. The left-back has returned to his hometown club after being without a club since the end of the 2022 season due to injury.

Verdict: 6th.

Owners: FC32.

Last season finish: 8th.

Ins: Cian Murphy (Cork City), Niall O'Keefe (Waterford), Shane Griffin (Bray Wanderers), Jack Doherty (Cork City), Cian Bargary (Cork City), Shane Griffin (Shelbourne), Cian Coleman (Cork City), Barry Coffey (Cork City), John O’Donovan (Cork City), Sam Bellis (Waterford), Jonas Hakkinen.

Outs: Dean Larkin (Wexford), Jack Larkin (Wexford), Charlie O'Brien, Regix Madika, Justin Eguaibor, David Eguaibor, Pierce Phillips, Matthew McKevitt (Avondale United).

Looking up or down: There’s a joke going around Cork at the moment about how Cobh Ramblers are now the City B team. But they’ve signed proven First Division winners from their nearest rivals and those players will be determined to land the title yet again.

Player to watch: Barry Coffey. Injury means Jack Doherty will have to wait before making his mark on his return to Ramblers so it will be up to Coffey to fill the void and become their creative force. He scored eight times for City last season.

Verdict: 2nd.

Dundalk 

Manager: Ciaran Kilduff 

Owners: Dundalk Town FC Ltd (John Temple-led consortium).

Last season finish: 10th (Premier Division).

Ins: Dean Ebbe (Athlone Town), Harry Groome (Bray Wanderers), Enda Minogue (Athlone Town), Gbemi Arubi (Waterford), Conor O'Keefe (Galway United), Leo Gaxha (Galway United), Sean McHale (St Patrick's Athletic - loan), Andy Paraschiv (Glebe North), Keith Ward (Glenavon), Ethen Vaughan (Brighouse Town), Daithi Folan (Shelbourne).

Outs: Felix Goddard (end of loan, Blackburn Rovers), Sam Durrant, Josh O'Connor (end of loan, Hibernian), Bobby Faulkner (end of loan, Doncaster Rovers), Andy Boyle (Waterford), Ryan O'Kane (Shelbourne), John Mountney (Bohemians), Jad Hakiki (Sligo Rovers), Robbie Mahon (Loughgall), Ross Munro (Falkirk), Dan Pike, Scott McGill (Stenhousemuir), Jamie Walker (Peterhead), Paul Doyle (Drogheda United), Jamie Gullan (Raith Rovers), Robbie Benson (Derry City), Sam Durrant (Connah's Quay) 

Looking up or down: Dundalk, who won five out of six Premier Division titles as recently as 2014 to 2019 will definitely be looking to return to the top-flight at the first time of asking, but they will need more stability off the field in order to do so.

Player to watch: Dean Ebbe. Dundalk laid down a marker in their bid to bounce straight back to the top flight by snapping up last season’s First Division tlop-goalscorer Dean Ebbe from Athlone. He scored 20 goals in all competitions in 2024, 15 of those coming in the league.

Verdict: 1st. 

Owners: Fan owned.

Last season finish: 6th.

Ins: Gavin Hodgins (Shelbourne), Anto Dodd (St Patrick's Athletic - loan), Mikey Place (Ballymena United), Dara McGuinness (Stoke City), David Aziaya (Bromley - loan), William Oduwa (Tomasovce).

Outs: Bruce Strachan, Tim Oliver-Heimir (Kerry), Ryan Rainey, Matthew Makinson, Noe Baba (Athlone Town), Joe Gorman (Bluebell United), Success Edogun (Ballymena United).

Looking up or down: After just missing out on the playoffs in 2024, the Donegal club will be hoping to make the next step in 2025. It’s going to be extremely difficult though.

Player to watch: Anto Dodd. The 18-year-old Republic of Ireland underage international joins on-loan from St Pats eager to make an impression when given regular first-team football.

Verdict: 8th.

Manager: Conor McCarthy.

Owners: John Wall and Steven Conway.

Last season finish: 10th.

Ins: Theo Marcel Farquharson (Workington Town), Niall Brookwell (Cork City), Alex Dunne (UCD), Chris McQueen, Connal Doran (Iowa Lakes Lakers), Kevin Williams (Balzan FC), Tim Oliver-Hiemer (Finn Harps), Abel Alabi (Floro SK), Stefan Stanic-Floody (Brisbane City), Joe Adams (Rylands).

Outs: Valerii Dolia (Treaty United), Andrew Spain (Longford Town).

7 February 2024; League of Ireland director Mark Scanlon and Ashley Morrow, head of brand, advertising and sponsorship at SSE Airtricity, with League of Ireland First Division players. Pic:Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Looking up or down: Having finished bottom in their first two seasons as a League of Ireland club, the only way is up for the Kingdom. They continue to build and seeing as they only finished two points behind Longford in second bottom last season, this could be the year they finish off the foot of the table.

Player to watch: Niall Brookwell. The 22-year-old former Liverpool and Newcastle United youth player joins after failing to make an impression at Cork City. He made just 15 appearances for City last season but he should benefit playing more regularly with the Kingdom.

Verdict: 9th.

Owners: Stalwart Jim Hanley.

Last season finish: 9th.

Ins: Manny Milongo (Drogheda United), Aaron Doran (Maynooth Town), Joshua Giurgi (Maynooth Town), Daragh Murtagh (Shelbourne U20s), Scott Browne (Bray Wanderers Under-20s), Andrew Spain (Kerry), Osaze Irhue (Drogheda United U20s), Manuel Pharrell (Lucan United), Daniel Chukwu (Bray Wanderers).

Outs: Bastien Hery (Athlone Town), Adam Wixted (Athlone Town), Jordan Adeyemo (Aegir FC), Kyle O'Connor (Athlone Town), Shane Elworthy (Malahide United), Jordan Tallon (Bray Wanderers), Guilherme Regor Priosti (Sligo Rovers).

Looking up or down: It’s been a tough period on and off the pitch – the recent storm severely damaged their stadium at Bishopsgate - for Longford and it doesn’t look like it will get much better anytime soon.

Player to watch: Osaza Irhue. The highly rated 20-year-old defender joins from Drogheda United where he captained their U20 side to their first ever league title last season.

Verdict: 10th.

Ins: Valerii Dolia (Kerry), Ben Lynch (Wexford), Dean Owens (Bray Wanderers U20s), Connor Wilson (Western Suburbs), Joe Hanson (Valour), Eoin Martin (UK Wildcats), Roy Lawlor (UCD), Karl O'Sullivan (Galway United).

Outs: Enda Curran (Mervue United), Ben O'Riordan, Stephen Christopher, Thomas Considine (Bray Wanderers).

Looking up or down: Treaty may well be marooned between that position between being too good to finish bottom and not quite good enough to finish in the playoffs.

Player to watch: Karl O’Sullivan. The Limerick man joins his hometown club after a season with Galway United. He brings the experience of nearly 150 Premier Division appearances as well as lining out in European competition.

Verdict: 7th.

Owners: University custodians.

Last season finish: 2nd.

Ins: Carl Lennox (Shamrock Rovers), Brian McManus (Bohemians), Killian Cailloce (Drogheda United), Cathal McCarthy (Hull City - loan).

Outs: Alex Dunne (Kerry), Hugh Parker (Hull City U21), Roy Lawlor (Treaty United), Danu Kinsella-Bishop (Bray Wanderers), Donal Higgins.

Looking up or down: They will be disappointed with how they performed in the playoffs last year – losing to Bray in the semi-final – but they will likely have a chance to put that right in the playoffs this year.

Player to watch: Brian McManus. The 23-year-old joins the Students after making 16 appearances with Bohemians last season. The midfielder helped Shelbourne to promotion back in 2021 and UCD will be hoping he can stay fit and have a similar impact with them.

Verdict: 3rd. 

Manager: Stephen Elliott.

Owners: Wexford FC Trust.

Last season finish: 3rd.

Ins: Robbie McCourt (Waterford), Darragh Dunne (Ytterhogdals IK), Adam Queally (Waterford- loan), Luke Kehir (St Patrick's Athletic- loan), Dean Larkin (Cobh Ramblers), Jack Larkin (Cobh Ramblers), Conor Levingston, Ryan Kelly (Shamrock Rovers Under-20s), Henry Cromack (Dollingstown), Zayd Abada (Bray Wanderers), Josh Lyons (Bohemians Under-20s), Paul Martin.

Outs: Lewis Temple (end of loan, Shelbourne), Conor Walsh (end of loan, Sligo Rovers), Sean McHale (end of loan, St Patrick’s Athletic), Divin Isamala (end of loan, Bohemians), Luka Lovic (Brunswick Juventus), Ethan Boyle (Carrick Rangers), Cian O'Malley (Carrick Rangers), Reece Webb (Carrick Rangers), Ben Lynch (Treaty United), Thomas Oluwa (Drogheda United), Cian Curtis (Bray Wanderers), Kian Corbally (Ballymena United).

Looking up or down: It will be interesting to see the impact Stephen Elliott can have on the group, particularly after they enjoyed an excellent campaign in 2024.

Player to watch: Conor Levingston. The experienced central-midfielder returns for his second spell at the club where he will link up with his younger brother Darragh. Conor has previously captained Bohemians and he has played in Europe so his experience could prove to be vital.

Verdict: 5th.