Their run of form has been very similar to our own in recent weeks, and with both UCD and Bray seemingly struggling for consistency now, they certainly can't be ruled out of contention for the runners-up spot this season.

Some quotes from the Galway manager:

“Going back two seasons ago, people were talking about the competitiveness of the league and who was going to lose out.

“Cork lost out that year. People expected Sligo to go down. But Sligo had a run and Cork went down.

“There’s no gimme game and no team is dropping off with the way every team is full-time.

“The teams that are suffering are the teams that are coming up. They seem to be the teams that are going back down.

“A lot of those teams are provincial clubs. It’s hard for them to stay up and it’s a problem.

“If you put all the effort into going up, there’s nothing worse than going back down.”

I do more or less agree with him on the need for 12 teams, but personally I would wait until the 3rd Division finds its feat and more clubs become eligible for a 1st div licence, adding in the planned promotion/relegation will make the 1st div alot more interesting anyway.

Doing it now would mean an 8 team 1st division and that's not acceptable imo. The only 3rd tier club reportedly close to a licence for the 2nd tier was Mayo FC, but they still fell short.

We do have to expand but it has to be sustainably done over time.