Longford Town seek to make winning start at home to Cobh Ramblers

One would have to say that last year's term in the top flight for Longford was a real disaster and it's best forgotten. 

The current situation in the First Division is that the powers to be have decided to run with a nine club league, thus having an odd team each weekend until the completion of this year's campaign.

 Despite losing some revenue during this year's competition, clubs will still have to play their players for those idle weeks and the League should be picking up the bill for that. 

This season's First Division should be very competitive as all nine clubs have been busy strengthening their respective squads and it will be hard to pick out an outright winner at this stage.

 The league will have at least three full time teams with Cork, Waterford and Galway all considered as full time clubs. 

The new look Bray club is a combination of last year's Bray and Cabinteely clubs with the experienced Pat Devlin at the helm and expect them to be in the running for honours. 

Limerick’s Treaty United, under former Limerick manager Tommy Barrett, will be no pushover either. Barrett has strengthened his squad considerably.

The recent inclusion of former Town defender Joe Gorman and ex Galway players Enda Curran, Conor Wynn, Conor Melody and Mark Ludden gives them a strong look. Former Town keeper Jack Brady also plays with Treaty United. 

 Another team that will be a tough nut to crack will be Wexford who are now managed by Ian Ryan. Their squad has a real Town look about it with six former Longford players in this year's squad. 

Conor Davis, Aidan Friel, Aaron Dobbs, Joe Manley, Paul Hunt and Jack Doherty have worn the red and black in recent seasons. Martin Russell has taken over our near neighbours Athlone Town after Paul Doolin vacated the hot seat after he in turn had replaced Adrian Carberry. 

Not a lot is known about the Athlone team at the moment but the next week or so will reveal their squad. Over the weekend there were at least three signings from outside Ireland and there is no doubt that they also will be very competitive when Martin gets some time with his new look squad.

Getting back to the title race  one would have to lean towards Waterford who have Ian Morris as their new manager after guiding Shelbourne to promotion last season. 

Not only did Waterford retain much of last season's squad but they have strengthened the squad considerably with quite a few more cross channel players coming in. 

With them and Cork fighting for the one automatic promotion spot along with Galway there are exciting times ahead. 

Cork have the experienced Colin Healy in the managerial hot seat and they have two ex-Town men in their squad, Dylan McGlade and Aaron Bolger, along with two excellent keepers in Mark McNulty and David Harrington.

When you add Ruairi Keating, Kevin O'Connor and James Doona to that list, it shows some of the strength in their squad. 

Former Cork manager John Caulfield also has a huge squad at his disposal down in Galway. Caulfield has kept most of last season’s squad and has added quality rather than quantity.

Galway have a real match winner in Conor McCormack, a player who played most of his professional career in the Premier Division. 

Cobh Ramblers are currently under the management of Darren Murphy and although there may not be as many household names in their squad they will undoubtedly be very competitive and will be a really tough nut to crack, especially on the opening day of the season.

 A big plus for Cobh is its proximity to Cork and that gives them the advantage of using many young players who don't make it into the first team in Cork.

 Former Cork player John Kavanagh is possibly their most experienced player having featured with Cork for quite a few seasons but it's all about a good squad and Murphy is very happy with his current stock. 

Finally we get to the Longford Town squad and one has to say that last season's squad is really decimated and that is due mainly to our relegation and the fact that we had a few loan players last season.

 There are still some experienced players in the current squad with excellent keepers in Lee Steacy and Luke Dennison.

Shane Elworthy, Mick McDonnell and Ben Lynch remain in the squad as does the versatile Karl Chambers who must be the longest serving player in the club at the moment. 

The impressive Aaron Robinson and the up and coming Matthew O'Brien, who has been in the team and squad for two seasons, will be fighting for places in the middle of the park. 

New signing Dylan Barnett looks decent at left-full while another former Bray player Ryan Graydon showed up well in the pre-season friendly against Finn Harps on Saturday last and he capped a fine display with a stunning goal. 

Dean McMenamy, who is on loan from Shamrock Rovers, looks a very decent player. Darren Craven also looks a good player also while young Callum Warfield could make a name for himself in the coming season playing up front. 

The return of Sam Verdon will give the club a striking threat as the Town prepare for a return to the First Division under new manager Gary Cronin.

The loyal Longford supporters, who are always behind the club, can expect a lot from another of the new signings Eric Molloy who has showed up well in the pre-season games. 

One wonders if any of the many trialists who played in the pre-season games will make it into the squad for Saturday night's game against Cobh.

One would  hope that the Town will be competitive and keep up with the favourites for promotion in the coming months. 

The club needs support at games. The new season always generates a huge interest and no doubt there will be a strong presence of Longford’s amazingly staunch supporters in the opening First Division fixture against Cobh Ramblers.

Full preview in this week’s Longford Leader print edition