Dundalk and Cork City take stock after winning season

So, after a couple of years of everyone at Dundalk seeking somehow to portray themselves as underdogs because some members of the media tipped Cork City to win the league in 2015, Mark McNulty has apparently has had a pop at the pundits who didn't give Cork City a chance against the league champions on Sunday.

Given that nobody ever seems to admit reading the papers, it is nice to know that the people who write about the game here still manage to provide some sort of service on the motivational front.

Stephen Kenny used the poll line at the end of the 2015 campaign, by which time most of us had forgotten that one had been conducted at the season's start, but when one of the players suggested a few weeks ago that the Oriel Park outfit had sprung some sort of surprise this year, it really did seem to be stretching things just a little.

As for Cork, they were not quite so unfancied ahead of the cup final as they might like to imagine. The problem is that much of that had to do with Dundalk's excursion to St Petersburg, something that always seemed likely to be a factor even before Kenny's team selection became known. A few more fresh legs might have benefited his side at the Aviva Stadium, although this, of course, is to view things with the benefit of hindsight, and the Dubliner, like John Caulfield at City will already be looking firmly forward.

Luxury

Kenny’s planning for next season will inevitably be influenced by how his team does in its remaining Europa league group games and, perhaps, beyond, but he and his employers will certainly enjoy the luxury of making some choices not generally open to League of Ireland sides.

Michael O’Neill left Tallaght a few years ago lamenting the fact that clubs generally had not used the money that came into the game during the boom years well, with most simply paying higher wages to the same players they would have had anyway. Budgets are not yet back to the levels the northerner was talking about, but the issue may soon be a live one again and the leading clubs here might have to be a little more creative now than they were in the past if they want to continue making progress in Europe.

Caulfield, as a case in point, will do very well indeed to rustle up another 29-goal-a-season striker from within the league if Seán Maguire decides to try his hand in England again; something that would be a huge blow to City’s chances of achieving top spot in the league next season.

The City boss talked about having 12 players already signed for next season and the priority will be to ensure the 22-year-old striker is number 13. Beyond that, though, he has some strengthening to do in key areas and some depth to add to a squad that made progress this year, but was still left looking thin a couple of times by the loss of influential figures.

Not half as thin, of course, as some of those in the chasing pack. Derry City finished seven points clear in third place this year, but you would do well to find any pundit tipping them to push on from that and close the eight-point gap that separated them from Cork.

Miracle

Derry are likely to spend the entirety of next season away from the Brandywell due to building work at the ground and will have at least a couple of European game to contend with – handy enough, Kenny Shiels might think, now they don’t have Wexford to head to. It was a remarkable first season for Shiels, but it would be bordering on a miracle if he could turn his side back into actual contenders.

The same might be said for Shamrock Rovers, where Stephen Bradley will do well to balance to the club's growing emphasis on youth development with its traditional pursuit of first team success.

Beyond that, Sligo Rovers look best placed to improve on this year, although Bray Wanderers are about to invest again and St Patrick's Athletic will surely do better than this year.

They might have to. Agreement looks likely over the coming weeks on a 10-team top flight for 2018, which almost certainly means three teams going down next season. Given the current fixation with playoffs, just about anybody outside the top four could find themselves playing cup football for their survival this time next year.

After the week Wexford Youths just had, that is not a prospect all those FAI-backed strategic planners are likely to relish. That, though, is unlikely to concern the top two.