Season Preview

3 Months. 92 days. 2208 hours.

But we're back! At 8.00 P.M on Friday night, the League of Ireland season kicks off again, with Finn Harps playing host to Drogheda. 
It seems like a distant memory, that 5-0 win against Longford on the final day of the season, a resounding victory that ensured safety.
The team has been decimated since, but a host of new faces have signed on to replace those that have left. 
Welcome to Harpin' On's season preview.

Where to begin?

Ollie is once again at the wheel for what will be his ninth season in Ballybofey.
There was never any official confirmation from the club on Ollie's position, in fact,
the last we heard was that the club hoped to be in a position to confirm his re-signing after the AGM. Likewise, there was never any statement on Paul Hegarty's departure, but Gavin Dykes will be the man sitting beside Ollie in the dugout this year. It's hard to envisage what impact if any this change will bring. Both men are vastly experienced and with the squad changing so much during the off season, we can hope that it was as good a time as any for a backroom shuffle.

Change seemed to be the theme of the winter.

The outgoings really hurt this year. Some were to be expected, even if we hoped it wouldn't be the case. Some left quietly, and will unfortunately never get the deserved thanks or proper recognition for what they contributed last year.
Adam Foley, Jordan Mustoe and Kosovar Sadiki were linked with moves away before the season had ended, so it came as no surprise when they did leave.
But the exodus that seemed to come between the last week in November and Christmas day was shocking. To lose so many quality player sent shockwaves through the Harps online communities. With Johnny Dunleavy, Joel Bradley Walsh and Ger Doherty also not re-signing this season, along with Patrick McGarvey and Stephen Doherty heading on loan, I make it 15 players that were with us at the backend of the season that are not starting this campaign with us.

Out with the old, in with the new.

The new signings provide us with a sense of intrigue and excitement, but most of us would be lying if we claimed to have any real knowledge of the lads who have come from abroad. 
Jose Carillo, Erol Alkan, Elie N'Zeyi and Filip Mihaljevic have all travelled across miles of blue ocean to represent us this season. 
As exciting as it is to have such exotic names on the teamsheet, they really are unknown entities in this league. It is also widely believed that an American wide player has also agreed to join the club, we do await confirmation on that though. We all hope that they are successful as their collective performances will have a huge overall baring on how the clubs season will go. 

The club have recruited well by bringing in Yoyo Mahdy from Shelbourne in what was a surprise move considering he had agreed a new deal with them for this season. Contrary to an imaginative Reddit transfer rumour involving a compensation claim for Dan Hawkin, Dan McDonnell has confirmed that he was told during pre-season that he was not in the clubs plans and was free to find a new club, and here now we find him parked up on Navenny street for the season.
Also coming in are Rob Slevin, Conor Tourish, Bastien Hery and Gavin Mulreany whilst Regan Donelon and Jesse Devers have returned for second spells at the club.

How will it play out?

From a Harps perspective, it's very hard to predict how things are going to go with so many new bodies. Many pundits have cited our strong start to last season as the reason the club stayed up in the end, but it could be argued the six game winning run, (including cup) from July to September was the catalyst for our playoff escape. It was around this time that we saw the best from Tunde, Seymore and Rainey, three lads that were brought in at the start of the season. So with that in mind, we have to give the benefit of the doubt and refrain from harsh judgement of the new lads early on in the season.

At the minute, the starting 11 and formation is impossible to second guess. There's the potential for the team to play 5 across the back, similar to how they played at times at the start of the season. It's likely going to take a while for the squad to gel and for some of the newer signings to adjust to the physicality and intensity of the league whilst also getting to grips with new surroundings and teammates.

But other clubs that we should be in direct competition with to avoid the drop find themselves in similar positions. Both Shelbourne and Drogheda have had a change in management and have recycled the playing staff too. Drogheda I feel have built a strong squad and should have enough about them to stay up, but I think Shelbourne are a side that could struggle. Granted, I've only seen one pre-season game of theirs, but they did not set up at all like I would have expected considering Duff has said that they will aim to dominate games. They played 3 at the back with wingbacks and Coyle and Dervin very deep. Bar Carr up top who could be an inspired signing, I feel like they'll struggle to provide a goal threat.

Obviously UCD are right up against it and many predict that they will be going straight back down.
They will rely heavily on the performances of Colm Whelan and Liam Kerrigan in the first half of the season to give them a chance of survival, before they both likely depart in the summer when they complete their respective studies. .

So on to our League of Ireland table predictions.

1. Shamrock Rovers
2. Derry City
3. St.Pat's
4. Dundalk
5. Bohemians
6. Sligo
7. Drogheda
8. Finn Harps
9. Shelbourne
10. U.C.D.

So yeah, I reckon we'll be okay. I think there's enough in this squad to keep us up and we have every reason to be cautiously optimistic. We've seen some very good pre-season performances and hopefully after the opening two games against Drogheda and U.C.D. we will have a few points on the board.
It's hard to imagine the team playing as well as they did at stages last season, but with so many new unknown faces, I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

I would love to hear your opinions and predictions for the upcoming season.

Thanks so much for reading and major congratulations if you made it to the end!

Cheers,

Harpin On.

February 17, 2022 Tags : Ballybofey , Donegal , Finn Harps , League of Ireland , New Season , Ollie Horgan

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