It’s back!!!
After an enforced break of four and a half months due to the Covid-19 outbreak the SSE Airtricity Premier and First Divisions are back this weekend and with them our writer’s prediction league also makes a comeback.
Keith will be previewing the weekend’s fixtures elsewhere on overtheturnstile.uk today but just to remind you here is how the Premier Division table looks after the first few games of the season: –
| Pos | Club | Pl | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Shamrock Rovers | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 11 | 15 |
| 2 | Dundalk | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| 3 | Bohemians | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 4 | St. Patrick’s Athletic | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 5 | Shelbourne | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 6 |
| 6 | Waterford | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 6 |
| 7 | Derry City | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | Finn Harps | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 4 |
| 9 | Cork City | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 11 | -10 | 3 |
| 10 | Sligo Rovers | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 8 | -6 | 0 |
There are two Premier Division games taking place tonight, two tomorrow night and a final game on Sunday to cap off the weekend.
Here is this weekend’s full fixture list: –
Derry City v Sligo Rovers (Friday 31st July at 17:45)
Dundalk v St. Patrick’s Athletic (Friday 31st July at 19:45)
Shelbourne v Waterford (Saturday 1st August at 14:00)
Shamrock Rovers v Finn Harps (Saturday 1st August at 17:00)
Cork City v Bohemians (Sunday 2nd August at 17:00)
Prior to the suspension of football Liam was leading the way in our prediction league, holding a two point lead over Richard but with just ten points separating everyone and a lot of football to be played in the coming weeks that can all change very quickly.
Here is the current leaderboard along with the charities our writers are playing for: –
| 1. Liam (Irish Cancer Society) | 21 |
| 2. Richard (The National Autistic Society) | 19 |
| 3. Bryan (Children’s Cancer Unit at Royal Victoria Hospital)/Rodney (Marie Curie Cancer Care)/Darren (Cancer Research UK) | 14 |
| 6. Keith (North West Hospice)/Adrian (Alzheimer’s Society)/Cameron (Prostate Cancer UK) | 11 |
Up first this week with his predictions is current leader Liam, just a reminder that the guys will get three points for predicting the correct result and a point for predicting the correct outcome.
Liam
Derry City 2-0 Sligo Rovers
Dundalk 2-0 St. Patrick’s Athletic
Shelbourne 1-1 Waterford
Shamrock Rovers 4-0 Finn Harps
Cork City 0-2 Bohemians
Darren
Derry City 1-0 Sligo Rovers
Dundalk 2-0 St. Patrick’s Athletic
Shelbourne 1-1 Waterford
Shamrock Rovers 3-0 Finn Harps
Cork City 0-0 Bohemians
Adrian
Derry City 2-0 Sligo Rovers
Dundalk 2-1 St. Patrick’s Athletic
Shelbourne 2-1 Waterford
Shamrock Rovers 5-0 Finn Harps
Cork City 0-1 Bohemians
Richard
Derry City 1-0 Sligo Rovers
Dundalk 1-0 St. Patrick’s Athletic
Shelbourne 0-0 Waterford
Shamrock Rovers 0-1 Finn Harps
Cork City 1-1 Bohemians
Rodney
Derry City 2-0 Sligo Rovers
Dundalk 2-0 St. Patrick’s Athletic
Shelbourne 1-0 Waterford
Shamrock Rovers 3-0 Finn Harps
Cork City 1-2 Bohemians
Cameron
Derry City 2-0 Sligo Rovers
Dundalk 2-0 St. Patrick’s Athletic
Shelbourne 1-1 Waterford
Shamrock Rovers 4-0 Finn Harps
Cork City 0-2 Bohemians
Keith
Derry City 1-2 Sligo Rovers
Dundalk 1-1 St. Patrick’s Athletic
Shelbourne 1-0 Waterford
Shamrock Rovers 0-0 Finn Harps
Cork City 1-3 Bohemians
Bryan
Derry City 2-1 Sligo Rovers
Dundalk 2-1 St. Patrick’s Athletic
Shelbourne 2-0 Waterford
Shamrock Rovers 1-0 Finn Harps
Cork City 0-2 Bohemians
Of course, the action isn’t just in the top flight this weekend, there is also a full set of First Division fixtures taking place with the following games kicking off tonight at 19:45 unless otherwise stated: –
Athlone Town v Wexford
Bray Wanderers v Cobh Ramblers
Galway United v Cabinteely
U.C.D. v Longford Town
Shamrock Rovers II v Drogheda United (Saturday 1st August at 15:00)
The First Division standings look like this: –
| Pos | Club | Pl | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Cabinteely | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
| 2 | Drogheda United | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| 3 | Longford Town | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | U.C.D. | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 4 |
| 5 | Bray Wanderers | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Cobh Ramblers | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 3 |
| 7 | Galway United | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | Wexford | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 2 |
| 9 | Shamrock Rovers II | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 1 |
| 10 | Athlone Town | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 0 |
Hopefully everyone enjoys the return of the League of Ireland, remember north of the border the Irish Cup final takes place tonight as well with a small number of fans permitted access and you can read our preview and predictions of that game HERE.
