While there has been great emphasis and optimism invested in the restructured men's national league, the new ESB women's campaign has been greatly undermined by the recent withdrawal of Naomh Mhuire which leaves just five teams competing for the title.
After the fire at the Oblate Hall last season which left Mhuire without a home venue, not enough impetus was generated to keep the once all-conquering Inchicore team in the national league and they succumbed to the same fate suffered by the Corinthians men's national league club with whom the Mhuire once shared the west Dublin venue.
Two other clubs with rich histories of national competition success, Blarney and Tralee have also failed to resurface this season at women's superleague level and Castleisland have also dropped out.
That leaves just a five-team national league. To label it a "superleague" seems like a serious misnomer but it appears that all five teams will have competitive squads and there should be few, if any, very one-sided games which was the scourge of last year's campaign.
Wildcats open their new campaign tomorrow evening at home to Tolka, who came close to beating the Waterford women last season while Meteors are home to Limerick in Sandyford tomorrow evening in the only other game of the weekend.
Wildcats
The major change to the squad has been the decision of coach Gerry Fitzpatrick to step down so that he can concentrate on coaching the Irish women's team. Fitzpatrick, who built the squad from scratch into the record breaking team of last season, will still be seriously involved in coaching at underage level. American Craig Madzinski is the new man in charge of the senior team which has no defections and one acquisition in 6 feet 1 inch Orla Dempsey from Tullamore
Meteors
Irish international captain Karen Hennessy returns after pregnancy forced her to miss last season and the squad has also been strengthened by another Irish team regular Anne Marie Kyne, formerly of Naomh Mhuire and also the return of Sinead Harvey. Karen Staunton will be missing for the early part of the season at least while Siobhan Byrne has retired. Joe Kavanagh returns as coach.
Tolka Rovers
The likely loss of Suzanne Maguire, who is currently working in America and the retirement of another Irish international Karen Hannigan will undermine their title credentials. Last year's third place finishers have Eimear Howard, Elaine Scally and Sharon Kelly back in the squad and will be coached by Noel Murphy. They will rely heavily on the scoring power of Rachel Kelly.
Killester
The north Dublin city club has benefited more than any other from the fragmentation of the old Naomh Mhuire squad. Joining from Inchicore are junior international Denise Walsh and senior international June Blount. In addition, the influence of former Mhuire coach Pat McKenna could help transform Killester from underachievers into contenders.
Limerick
Limerick are the likely strugglers of the five team league although they have acquired four ex-Blarney players including the promising Dara Barrett. As they are one of only two non-Dublin teams competing, the league badly needs them to be competitive. Ian and Colm Barry are co-coaches.
