There were a couple of shock results in the first week of the SSE Airtricity Premier Division last week with none of last season’s top four picking up maximum points in their first game of the season.
Champions Shamrock Rovers could only manage a 1-1 draw in their home game against St. Pat’s, Bohemians suffered a 1-0 defeat in their trip north to take on Finn Harps and Sligo and Dundalk played out a 1-1 draw at The Showgrounds.
Both newly promoted sides got their seasons off to a perfect start with Drogheda and Longford both winning their home games against Waterford and Derry respectively.
Here are the full results from last weekend’s opening fixtures: –
Drogheda United 1-0 Waterford
Shamrock Rovers 1-1 St. Patrick’s Athletic
Finn Harps 1-0 Bohemians
Longford Town 2-0 Derry City
Sligo Rovers 1-1 Dundalk
And here is how the league table looks after the first round of games: –
| Pos | Club | Pl | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Longford Town | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | Drogheda United | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Finn Harps | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | Dundalk | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Shamrock Rovers | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Sligo Rovers | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | St. Patrick’s Athletic | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Bohemians | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| 8 | Waterford | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| 10 | Derry City | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 |
Here are the fixtures for this round of fixtures with the games starting tonight (Friday 26th March 2021) and concluding on Tuesday (30th March 2021): –
Dundalk v Finn Harps (Friday 26th March at 17:45)
Waterford v Sligo Rovers (Friday 26th March at 19:45)
Bohemians v Longford Town (Saturday 27th March at 16:00)
St. Patrick’s Athletic v Drogheda United (Saturday 27th March at 16:00)
Derry City v Shamrock Rovers (Tuesday 31st March at 19:45)
In our League of Ireland prediction league Adrian got off to the best start after correctly predicting a 1-1 drawn between Sligo and Dundalk, making him the only participant to correctly predict a result on the opening weekend.
Richard managed two points backing wins for Drogheda and Finn Harps, with Cameron, Darren and defending champions Rodney picking up one point each and Keith and Liam currently bring up the rear looking for their first points of the season.
Here is the current leaderboard: –
| 1. Adrian | 3 |
| 2. Richard | 2 |
| 3. Cameron/Darren/Rodney | 1 |
| 6. Keith/Liam | 0 |
Up first this week with their predictions is Richard, as usual it is three points for a correct result and a point for a correct outcome.
Richard
Dundalk 3-0 Finn Harps
Waterford 0-0 Sligo Rovers
Bohemians 0-2 Longford Town
St. Patrick’s Athletic 1-0 Drogheda United
Derry City 2-2 Shamrock Rovers
Darren
Dundalk 3-0 Finn Harps
Waterford 1-1 Sligo Rovers
Bohemians 1-0 Longford Town
St. Patrick’s Athletic 2-0 Drogheda United
Derry City 1-2 Shamrock Rovers
Adrian
Dundalk 3-1 Finn Harps
Waterford 1-0 Sligo Rovers
Bohemians 3-0 Longford Town
St. Patrick’s Athletic 2-1 Drogheda United
Derry City 1-1 Shamrock Rovers
Liam
Dundalk 2-0 Finn Harps
Waterford 1-1 Sligo Rovers
Bohemians 1-0 Longford Town
St. Patrick’s Athletic 2-0 Drogheda United
Derry City 0-2 Shamrock Rovers
Rodney
Dundalk 2-0 Finn Harps
Waterford 2-1 Sligo Rovers
Bohemians 2-0 Longford Town
St. Patrick’s Athletic 2-0 Drogheda United
Derry City 1-2 Shamrock Rovers
Cameron
Dundalk 3-1 Finn Harps
Waterford 2-2 Sligo Rovers
Bohemians 2-1 Longford Town
St. Patrick’s Athletic 0-1 Drogheda United
Derry City 0-2 Shamrock Rovers
The First Division also kicks off tonight with the following games kicking off tonight (Friday 26th March 2021) unless otherwise stated: –
Wexford v Cabinteely
Cork City v Cobh Ramblers
U.C.D. v Athlone Town
Galway United v Shelbourne
Bray Wanderers v Treaty United (Sunday 28th March 2021 at 15:00)
