, With all the attention being on which side may win what is being described as the most competitive First Division in SSE Airtricity League history, many are overlooking the quality of player that will be on show in the seco
With all the attention being on which side may win what is being described as the most competitive First Division in SSE Airtricity League history, many are overlooking the quality of player that will be on show in the second tier this season and more importantly, the quantity of top class players that will be strutting their stuff in the SSE Airtricity League First Division in 2018.
With just a fortnight to go until the eagerly anticipated kick-off, which comes a week after the start of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division this year, our reporter Kieran Burke (@KieranBTS), took a look at whom he considers to be the top ten players supporters (and perhaps managers alike) need to look out for in the 2018 SSE Airtricity League First Division.
Here is Kieran's Top 10 in no particular order.
Stephen McGuiness (GK) - Cabinteely FC.
• Age: 22.
• Former clubs: Bray Wanderers & Drogheda United.
• Honors: Play-off promotion winner 2016 (Drogheda United).
Considered as one of the Premier Divisions bright young lights ever since his senior league debut in 2014 with Bray Wanderers, Stephen McGuinness's arrival at Cabinteely represents a real coup for the Dublin club, who will be hoping their new star shot-stopper can help guide the club to an improvement on last season's record high finish of sixth in the SSE Airtricity League First Division.
Only joining the League of Ireland in 2015, Cabinteely have gone about their business in impressive fashion over the course of the past three years and the capture of McGuinness, who many would have expected to remain in the top-flight, is a real sign of the clubs progression.
Standing at 5 foot 8 inches, McGuinness represents a new breed of young goalkeepers who make up for their lack of height through incredible agility and speed off the line. In fact, current Bohemians goalkeeping coach Chris Bennion described twenty-two-year-old McGuinness as the "best young 'keeper in the country" last season while they worked together at relegated Drogheda United.
Despite suffering the drop in 2017, McGuiness was a rare bright light in what was an otherwise bleak season for the County Louth side and should the former "Drog" carry his individual form over to South Dublin, Cabinteely fans should expect to see McGuiness pull of many heroic acts in the coming year.
Kieran "Marty" Waters (ST) - Cabinteely FC.
• Age: 27.
• Former clubs: Bray Wanderers, Shamrock Rovers & UCD AFC.
• Honors: 2011 "A" Championship Player of the year (Bray Wanderers).
The second former Bray star to feature who is also currently on the books of nearby Cabinteely, Kieran "Marty" Waters simply lit up the SSE Airtricity League First Division last season by scoring an astonishing fifteen goals, only two less than golden boot winner Georgie Kelly.
That form, plus Waters impressive reputation from his days in the top-flight with Bray and Shamrock Rovers respectively, saw many speculate as to whether Cabinteely manager Pat Devlin could hold onto his star asset, but that is exactly what the veteran coach has managed to do!
With the likes of Jason Byrne, Gareth McCaffery and Ryan Swan all departing Stradbrook over the off-season, the pressure may very well be on "Marty" Waters shoulders to not only match his scoring tally of last season but better it!
Having failed to win any silverware in his career to date, twenty-seven-year-old Waters will be desperate to secure a return to the big time sooner rather than later and with that motivation in mind the little magician could be a real danger for First Division defenders again this season.
Paddy McCourt (CM) - Finn Harps.
• Age: 34
• Former clubs: Rochdale, Shamrock Rovers, Derry City, Glasgow Celtic, Barnsley, Brighton, Notts County (Loan), Luton Town & Glenavon.
• Honors: FAI Cup 2006 (Derry City), EA Sports Cup x3 (Derry City), Scottish Premier League x2, Scottish League Cup (2009), Scottish Cup x2, NIFL Charity Shield 2016-17, PFAI Young Player of the Year 2005 (Shamrock Rovers).
An honours list the length of your arm and we haven't even touched on his eighteen senior international appearances for Northern Ireland! Simply put, Paddy McCourt is the definition of a star in this league and despite being at the tail-end of his career, McCourt almost singlehandedly kept Finn Harps in the Premier Division last season with some mesmerising performances.
Unsurprisingly voted as the Donegal clubs Player of the Year, speculation only naturally surfaced regarding the "Derry Dynamos" future when Ollie Horgan's men eventually suffered the drop despite a brave battle. However, McCourt not only remains but the veteran now has some serious firepower in front of him with the likes of Ciaran O'Connor, Michael O'Connor and John O'Flynn all surprise arrivals at Finn Park in the off-season.
Throw Harps teenage folk hero BJ Banda into the attacking equation and former SPL winner McCourt could very well add to his trophy cabinet in 2018.
Ryan Connolly (CM) - Galway United.
• Age: 26.
• Former clubs: Derby County, Ayr United (Loan), Sligo Rovers, Longford Town (Loan), Galway United & Shamrock Rovers.
• Honors: League of Ireland winner 2012 (Sligo Rovers), Promotion play-off winner 2014 (Galway United).
Galway's glorious captain of 2014 returns as midfield maestro Ryan Connolly looks to orchestrate an instant return to the Premier Division both personally and for the recently relegated "Tribesmen".
Registering eighty-three appearances and scoring twelve goals under the watch of Tommy Dunne at Galway, Connolly soon caught the attention of one of the big boys as seventeen-time League of Ireland champions Shamrock Rovers came calling at the start of last year. However, injuries and a subsequent lack of confidence and form would hamper the dynamic midfielder's opportunities to break into the fold at Rovers resulting in an earlier return than expected to United.
Possessing the equal ability to retain possession with precise passes or to unlock a game from deep, Connolly is a rare talent whose passing ability is matched by his powerful running both with and without the ball, while also bringing fantastic leadership qualities to the field of play.
Longford Town lost out to Galway in the race to sign Connolly back in 2014 and while the Midlanders had the last laugh by lifting the SSE Airtricity League First Division title that season, the "Red and Black" certainly won't look forward to facing the man they had on loan previously once again in 2018.
Darren Meenan (Winger) - Longford Town.
• Age: 31.
• Former clubs: Finn Harps, Monaghan United, UCD AFC x2, Shelbourne, Sligo Rovers, Drogheda United, St.Patrick's Athletic, Dundalk & Shamrock Rovers.
• Honors: League of Ireland winner x3 (Dundalk), EA Sports Cup 2014 (Dundalk), FAI Cup 2015 (Dundalk).
With five major trophies to his name, the acquisition of winger Darren Meenan by Longford Town has been seen a serious sign of intent from the 2014 winners, who are looking to bounce back to the Premier Division at the second time of asking after a woefully below par effort last season.
Scoring his first goal for his new club in a recent pre-season victory over touring professional American outfit Sure Sport FC, Town fans will be hoping Meenan's star power can help fill the void left up front by the departure of all-time Longford leading goal-scorer David O'Sullivan.
Suffering from injuries in recent seasons, Meenan appears to be back fit and firing judging by his performances in pre-season to date for "De Town" and if that is the case it should spell trouble for First Division defences.
Possessing the ability to deliver crosses of pin-point precision while also knowing how to get on the end of such crosses himself, Meenan's pace and power should help Longford manager Neale Fenn replace the loss of speedster Don Cowan out wide in 2018. Throw in his experience of winning big trophies and the arrival of Darren Meenan at the City Calling Stadium could well prove to be the difference maker this season!
David O'Sullivan (ST) - Shelbourne.
• Age: 30.
• Former clubs: Wayside Celtic & Longford Town.
• Honors: 2014 SSE Airtricity League First Division winner (Longford Town), PFAI First Division Player of the Year 2014.
From Longford's marquee signing to perhaps their greatest loss now as we examine ruthless goal-poacher David O'Sullivan next. The word legend is banded about all to freely in modern football but that certainly isn't the case with Wicklow native O'Sullivan and followers of his former club Longford Town FC.
Registering an astonishing eighty-two goals in just one-hundred-and-sixty outings with the Midlands club, O'Sullivan was a major driving force in a hugely successful couple of years for Tony Cousins side as "Sully", as he is affectionally known, recorded twenty-eight-goals in the 2014 season on route to collecting a first ever national league title in Longford Town's ninety-year history at the time.
Having narrowly missed out on promotion in his debut season just twelve months previous, a season which saw O'Sullivan claim twenty-eight goals also, 2014 was undoubtedly the highlight of the strikers short League of Ireland career to date.
Having only arrived in the domestic league at the age of twenty-five, O'Sullivan is still relatively young in footballing terms despite a couple of uncharacteristic injury setbacks in recent seasons. While perhaps a yard slower than when he broke into the league and maybe lacking the Velcro-like touch that made O'Sullivan a great target man as well as goal-getter, the thirty-year-old has never lost his eye for goal and that attribute will certainly increase Shelbourne's chances of a first promotion in seven years greatly!
Georgie Kelly (ST) - UCD AFC.
• Age: 21.
• Former clubs: Derry City.
• Honors: 2017 SSE Airtricity League First Division Golden Boot winner.
On the subject of goal-scoring machines, UCD's Georgie Kelly certainly falls into that category. Not only following his 2017 performances but also his goal-scoring exploits in this year's Collingwood Cup which UCD won.
Having been linked with a move to Dundalk over the off-season, UCD supporters will be delighted to see the striker still a part of Collie O'Neill's squad for what promises to be an exciting 2018 season.
Strong, quick and a lethal sense for goal, it may be too soon in a fledging career to call Kelly to complete striker but should the twenty-one-year old Student replicate his seventeen-goal haul of last term, you can expect to see his name mentioned a lot more within Irish football in the coming years.
Aaron Dobbs (ST) - Wexford FC (loan)
• Age: 19.
• Former clubs: Shamrock Rovers.
• Honors: N/A
The first player on our list without any honors to his name but that could very well change in the coming years for this promising young Shamrock Rovers striker. Returning once more to Ferrycarrig Park for a loan spell, Aaron Dobbs has already tasted some major action on both the domestic and European stage for the "Hoops" while the Wexford native impressed greatly for Damien Locke's side following his arrival in last year's summer window.
Speaking to the official Wexford FC website, Damien Locke couldn’t hide his excitement having secured Dobbs services for the entirety of the upcoming SSE Airtricity League First Division season: “He’s (Aaron Dobbs) a player who’s shown enormous potential and I believe he’ll be able to reach it, now that this squad can have a full pre-season together. Now that he can hit the ground running, he is capable of anything."
With Wexford FC playing out an underwhelming maiden First Division campaign in 2017, Damien Locke will be hoping the return of pacey front-man Dobbs can be a catalyst for improvement on the South-East this season.
Daniel O'Reilly (CB) - Longford Town.
• Age: 22.
• Former clubs: Fulham, Hereford United & Bray Wanderers.
• Honors: 2017 PFAI First Division Team of the Year.
The first defender to make the cut, Daniel O'Reilly was Longford Town's Player of the Year last season and it wasn’t difficult to see why as the PFAI First Division Team of the Year selection stood out through his incredible aerial ability, composure on the ball and even his ability to score highlight reel goals!
A former Fulham player, O'Reilly eventually returned home to play under-19's football for Bray Wanderers prior to breaking into the "Seagulls" first-team under ex-Longford manager Alan Mathews. Initially catching the eye as an attacking left-full-back, it soon became clear that O'Reilly's best position was in the centre of defence with the Cherry Orchard product forming a rock-solid partnership with experienced defender Noel Haverty at Longford last season.
With Haverty now retired, the onus is on twenty-two-year-old O'Reilly to step up to the plate for Neale Fenn's men this season and help organise what is an inexperienced back-four at this level.
Should O'Reilly be able to pass that challenge, we very well could be looking at the next Longford Town FC captain given just how highly rated and respected the Dubliner is around the club, he is undoubtedly the first name on manager Neale Fenn's team sheet each and every week.
Michael O'Connor (ST) - Finn Harps.
• Age: 19.
• Former clubs: Bristol City, Dundalk & Shamrock Rovers.
• Honors: EA Sports Cup 2015 (Dundalk), Leinster Senior Cup 2015 (Dundalk), 2016 League of Ireland winner (Dundalk).
Another young player who started his career in England, Michael O'Connor may not have to wait too long for his chance to return to English football with the promising Dundalk native linked with a number of big EFL clubs recently.
Joining his local club's under-19's side in September 2014, O'Connor signed on a professional basis under the watchful eye of Stephen Kenny in time for the start of the 2015 domestic season. Making his first-team debut in an EA Sports Cup tie against Shelbourne, O'Connor was an unused sub in the semi-final penalty shoot-out defeat to eventual runners-up Galway.
However, O'Connor would soon get to sample the experience of a cup final as the youngster was in the Dundalk XI that defeated, the club he would later move to, Shamrock Rovers 3-1.
A senior league debut would follow in 2016 but in truth O'Connor struggled for game time with David McMillan and Ciaran Kilduff tearing up top-flight defences as the "Lilywhites" captured a third consecutive Premier Division title.
Despite being given Champions League minutes in the play-off round against Polish giants Legia Warsaw, O'Connor decided to move to Dundalk's rivals Shamrock Rovers in January of last year. While there were some highlights, including an FAI Cup-semi goal against his former employers, O'Connor failed to remove target-man Gary Shaw from Stephen Bradley's starting line-up at the Tallaght Stadium.
As a result, O'Connor has opted to join Ollie Horgan's Finn Harps promotion push for 2018 on a six-month loan deal. With Michael's brother Ciaran already on the books of Harps for the upcoming season, the duo will be hoping to deliver on the promise of their early days together at Oriel Park.
