{"id":282605,"date":"2026-02-05T19:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T19:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/282605\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T19:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T19:00:07","slug":"shamrock-rovers-wary-of-dundalk-danger-as-league-of-ireland-returns-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/282605\/","title":{"rendered":"Shamrock Rovers wary of Dundalk danger as League of Ireland returns \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The business model for every club in the League of Ireland<\/a>, from champions Shamrock Rovers<\/a> to newly-promoted Dundalk, is designed to turn a profit in the January and June transfer windows. <\/p>\n

This has turned player recruitment into an art form. <\/p>\n

The departure of the league\u2019s most bankable teenagers \u2013 after St Patrick\u2019s Athletic sold Mason Melia to Tottenham Hotspur and Sligo Rovers\u2019 outstanding striker Owen Elding moved to Hibernian \u2013 leaves a void that can begin to be filled at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Not so long ago, Shamrock Rovers versus Dundalk was an unmissable, title-deciding fixture. Ciar\u00e1n Kilduff has made some astute acquisitions over the winter to ensure that last season\u2019s First Division champions are competitive despite daunting opening trips to Tallaght and Derry.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are talking about relegation for Dundalk, but I don\u2019t see that whatsoever,\u201d said Rovers manager Stephen Bradley<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019ve real danger at wide centre forward and a clear identity in what they are doing, so we know it\u2019s going to be a tough game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cwide centre forward\u201d sounds like a reference to the evergreen Daryl Horgan and Eoin Kenny, the son of St Pat\u2019s manager Stephen Kenny<\/a>, who netted 10 goals last season. <\/p>\n

Kilduff signed the hugely promising Ronan Teahan from Kerry, but the impact of Keith Buckley\u2019s arrival from Bohemians is best outlined by his former manager Alan Reynolds. <\/p>\n

\"DundalkDundalk have signed Ronan Teahan (right) from Kerry FC. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Keith was here, I didn\u2019t have any leadership group because he was the leadership group,\u201d said Reynolds. \u201cThat\u2019s how important he was and how good he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another boon for Dundalk is keeping Vinnie Leonard until the summer. The Leaving Cert student has a host of English clubs chasing him, having featured at centre half in each of the Republic of Ireland\u2019s fixtures at the recent Under-17 World Cup. The same goes for Rovers centre forward Michael Noonan. <\/p>\n

Rovers\u2019 investment in their academy is set to pay off with two more Ireland under-17s, Victor Ozhianvuna and Max Kovalevskis, looking a cut above the standard during last Saturday\u2019s President\u2019s Cup defeat to Derry City<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Kovalevskis and Rory Gaffney are currently injured. <\/p>\n

Judging by Derry\u2019s activity in the transfer market, if any team can knock Rovers off their perch it\u2019s Tiernan Lynch\u2019s outfit. With Michael Duffy to continue attacking off the left, James McClean<\/a> is being reshaped into a holding midfielder as James Clarke and Darragh Markey are encouraged to drive through the middle. <\/p>\n

\"ShamrockShamrock Rovers\u2019 Victor Ozhianvuna and Derry City’s Darragh Markey during last weekend President’s Cup game at Tallaght Stadium. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

If Lynch manages to gel his new crop, Sligo Rovers will struggle to contain them at the Brandywell. Not that Sligo manager John Russell has taken the loss of Elding to Hibs lying down, as Ma\u00ef Traor\u00e9 \u2013 a 26-year-old Guinean centre forward \u2013 is charged with filling the 16-goal void. <\/p>\n

A revamped Waterford side hosting Shelbourne is a fascinating first outing for Jon Daly, the club\u2019s 14th manager since 2020. The wonder is whether P\u00e1draig Amond, who turns 38 in April, can top the scoring charts for a third successive season. Fourteen goals did the trick in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n

There is a similar expectation on Mipo Odubeko to deliver for Shels after the former Ireland under-21 striker only scored eight times in his first season leading the line at Tolka Park. <\/p>\n

John Caulfield must work the oracle to keep Galway United in the Premier Division after the departure of 12 players. First out, Kevin Doherty\u2019s Drogheda United visit Eamonn Deacy Park with a squad containing six Americans and former St Pat\u2019s attacker Brandon Kavanagh. <\/p>\n

Bohemians expect 20,000 at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday afternoon for the Dublin derby against St Patrick\u2019s Athletic. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe relied too much on [Melia] last season,\u201d said Kenny, \u201cso now he has gone, everyone else is going to have to step up and show their collective quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Premier Division weekend fixtures<\/p>\n

Friday<\/p>\n

Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk, Tallaght Stadium, 8pm \u2013 Live on Virgin Media 2<\/p>\n

Derry City v Sligo Rovers, Brandywell, 7.45pm<\/p>\n

Waterford v Shelbourne, RSC, 7.45pm<\/p>\n

Galway United v Drogheda United, Eamonn Deacy Park, 7.45pm<\/p>\n

Sunday<\/p>\n

Bohemians v St Patrick\u2019s Athletic, Aviva Stadium, 2pm \u2013 Live on Virgin Media 2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The business model for every club in the League of Ireland, from champions Shamrock Rovers to newly-promoted Dundalk,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3407,14646,103980,9690,67462,61,60,2539,43,11113,90444,14644,136434,136433],"class_list":{"0":"post-282605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-bohemians","9":"tag-derry-city","10":"tag-drogheda-united","11":"tag-dundalk","12":"tag-galway-united","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-league-of-ireland","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-shamrock-rovers","18":"tag-shelbourne-fc","19":"tag-sligo-rovers","20":"tag-st-patrick-s-athletic","21":"tag-waterford-fc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}