After a summer of glorious soccer in Brazil, it’s that time of year again where the elite of junior soccer clubs from the NT&DL Premier League are set to kick off their league campaigns next Sunday the 24th of August in the opening round of fixtures. All nine clubs, Nenagh AFC, Nenagh Celtic, Roscrea United, Clodiagh Rangers, Thurles Town, Sallypark, Lough Derg, BT Harps and Cloughjordan will all compete for the coveted Premier League title over the course of the coming hard fought season. There is no doubting that Nenagh AFC will be outright favourites to retain their league title as they promote a number of their FAI Youths Cup winning side into their senior ranks. The management team of Martin Donnellan, Dearan O Gorman and the introduction of last year’s youth’s team manager Dave Rooney, will be focused on retaining their coveted crown which they have not yielded in the past four seasons despite being pushed all the way on a number of occasions. Nenagh AFC has always flown the flag for North Tipperary & District League in both regional and national competitions and will have high hopes of progressing in these competitions, especially after their recent strong performance in the John Delaney Cup Final. Biting at the heels of their neighbours is Nenagh Celtic, who were worthy Premier League runners up last season having pushed the champions all the way. Celtic have also promoted a number of their star youth’s players into their senior ranks coupled with a number of new faces such as Dylan Walsh and Stevie Ahearne. You simply can’t rule out Celtic in the push on all fronts for silverware and progression in the national competitions. Celtic’s first outing will see them face last season’s Division 1 champions, Roscrea United who have exploded on to the North Tipperary soccer scene when they formed last year. The Kennedy Park side went unbeaten in their league campaign last season and also won their divisional cup. New manager and ex underage Irish international David Nash will be assisted by Aaron Ryan as they face high levels of expectancy in the top tier and will feel they can contest with both Nenagh sides for the league title. Long term Premier League and ex League of Ireland side, Thurles Town will be looking to better their runners up spot from a number of seasons ago as they prepare under the management team of John Murphy, Liam Mahony and Joe Murphy and will no doubt look to their talisman Padraig Fogarty for goals. Thurles will face off against this season’s Premier Shield finalists Sallypark who were narrowly beaten by Roscrea United on a 2 -1 score line. The Latteragh side have long since secured their Premier League status and were the only side to beat Nenagh AFC in the Premier League last season. Clodiagh Rangers return to the top flight after obtaining promotion from a well contested first division last season under the stewardship of manager Eamonn Maher. The Drombane outfit will be looking to the clubs Premier League runners up performance in the 2005/06 season as inspiration as well as being the only first division side to overcome Roscrea United last season, which was in last year’s shield final. In addition, Clodiagh faced 3 Premier League teams in the Munster Junior Cup and overcame them all to reach the open round for only the second time in their club history. Next Sunday will see Clodiagh travel to Templemore to face BT Harps who are incidentally the last team outside of Nenagh to win the Premier League, way back in May of 2003. BT Harps have invested heavily in their facilities and will be looking to match the quality of their new facilities with strong performances on the field to under the watchful eye of manager Ronnie Russell and build on last year’s silverware in the shape of the Premier League shield. Lough Derg have the unfancied task of welcoming league favourites, Nenagh AFC to their impressive Carlisford venue. Since their promotion in 2012 to the Premier League under their previous guise, Bridge United, Lough Derg has consolidated their place in the top tier. Cloughjordan have finished second and third in their past two Premier League campaign’s and brought Nenagh AFC all the way to the final league game of the season two years. Last season’s Ricky Fogarty cup finalists will no doubt be considered worthy challengers and when added in to the mix of all nine teams, this year’s North Tipperary & District League should prove to be one of the most interesting for a number of years.
Details of all matches from North Tipperary & District League throughout the season can be followed at www.northtippsoccerleague.com and also on Facebook with North Tipperary Score Centre.