In recent years, interest in the Irish Premier League has increased significantly. In a country where rugby and Gaelic sports traditionally prevail, soccer has taken a back seat, but the landscape is changing fast.
Growth in viewing figures and enhanced brand awareness are helping to develop the competition, while the strength of the Premier League is constantly improving.
A Brief History
The League of Ireland was formed in 1921, and it is the elite competition for football teams in the country. In 1985, 64 years after its inception, the Premier Division was founded to accommodate the best-performing clubs in the structure.
Ten teams currently play in the Premier Division. Over the course of a campaign, they will meet each other four times, so every club plays 36 games. At the end of that sequence, the team at the top of the table is crowned as champions. The bottom club is relegated to the second tier, while the team second from bottom faces a play off to decide their fate.
Certain clubs have traditionally been strong in the Irish Premier League. Shamrock Rovers are the most successful team with 21 titles since 1985, while defending champions Shelbourne won their 14th trophy in 2024. The live betting markets usually showShelbourne as the favourites due to their impressive form, it is them and St Patrick who are joint favourites to win the league this year, while Shamrock Rovers head the chasing pack.
They are favourites for a reason, but there are teams below them who could yet deliver a surprise.
Derry Regroup
Derry City haven’t won the League of Ireland title since 1997, but some expert pundits believe this could be the year that they end the drought. The Candystripes responded to a poor campaign last year by making changes to the dugout and the playing squad.
Manager Ruaidhri Higgins was replaced by Tiernan Lynch, and the new boss quickly entered the transfer market. No fewer than six new arrivals made their way to Derry, including senior Northern Ireland internationals Liam Boyce, Carl Winchester, Gavin Whyte and Shane Ferguson.
A new outlook offers hope, but Derry have started the season poorly, picking up just four points from their first five games. A new squad needs time to gel, and fans will be looking for the team to improve quickly.
Early Pacesetters
Following those first five games of the 2025 campaign, Drogheda United led the way at the top of the table. At that stage, they were one of only two unbeaten sides in the division, and Drogheda enjoyed a two-point lead over closest challengers, Waterford.
Drogheda’s squad for 2025 contains four players on loan from English football league clubs, each of whom will have a key role to play this season. While all four are set to feature, Drogs fans will hope Josh Thomas can deliver the goals that keep the club in contention.
A Welsh youth international on loan from Swansea City, Thomas scored his first goal for Drogheda in the impressive 3-0 win over Sligo Rovers.
Galway’s Solid Start
Along with Drogheda United, Galway United are also unbeaten after five games of the new Premier League season. The team has won once in that time, while four draws show that John Caulfield’s side is going to be tough to beat.
Early results suggest that the club may concede too many goals across the remainder of the campaign, but if that defence can tighten up, Galway may yet be one of the division’s surprise teams in 2025.
Beyond Survival?
As a newly promoted side, Cork City’s focus is on survival this season, but can they go beyond that target? They are considered as a ‘yo-yo team’ having just been promoted for the second timein three seasons, and clearly, that first aim is to avoid relegation.
Early results have largely been positive, and one defeat from four games leaves Cork in a respectable seventh place in the early table. A 2-1 victory over Bohemians was the highlight of those opening exchanges.
Cork have some impressive players in their squad, and if they are going to move up the table, much will depend on the goal-scoring exploits of Sean Maguire. A Republic of Ireland international, Maguire previously spent two productive seasons at Cork, scoring twenty goals in twenty-one games in 2017.
He subsequently moved across the Irish Sea to join Preston North End, but he’s now back at Turners Cross. Sean Maguire has the potential to become the most potent striker in the Irish Premier League, and if he can maintain those scoring levels, Cork may yet become this year’s surprise package.
Clearly, there is a long way to go in the new Irish Premier League season, but those early games have given us a taste of what to expect. The favourites to win the title have seen solid starts, but there is an unlikely early leader in the shape of Drogheda United.
Can the Drogs maintain that form and deliver a surprise title win, or will other unlikely teams move forward to produce a shock in Ireland’s elite league?
