Four games into Season 16 in Division 3.1 and already some things are becoming clear. The most obvious is the stunning form of newly promoted Beechhill United who tops the table after four games. The most worrying is the complete lack of goals for fellow newcomers F.C. Drumbawn resigning them to last place at the moment.

In a tale of two promotions both Beechhill United and F.C. Drumbawn finished 2^nd in their respective 4^th division groups last year. In fact “De Dubliners” only managed 49 points and finished in 8^th place in division 4.2, gaining promotion only due to inactive teams, whereas F.C. Drumbawn amassed 61 points to secure their promotion spot. However Beechhill United did outscore “The Club That SUCKS” (his nickname not my impression of his team!) by two goals. The only saving grace for F.C. Drumbawn was their strong defence conceding only 18 goals all season. So why have Beechhill United flourished in the 3^rd division where F.C. Drumbawn have faltered? In a nutshell one team has recognised their failings and addressed them. The other has not.

Beechhill United’s manager, affectionately known as “De Gaffer” has spent no less than 450 million on 10 new signings since the beginning of June. Amazingly in the same period 14 players have been sold by the club netting a cool 280 million. This is obviously a shrewd tactic by the board to give the club the financial clout to be successful. The pick of the new signings surely has to be ex-Athletico Teabag youngster Tommy Staunton. The 23 year old striker, signed at the end of last season, has netted 6 times in 11 games for the club, three of those have come in four games this season. Fellow new signings central midfielder Lawrence Kekana and right-back Dario Acevedo have chipped in with two goals and two assists respectively. Add to that the solid displays of home-grown Shane Kiely, who leads the league average rating table – an amazing 7.75 average, and goalie Gary Bagley and you have a team that’s gelling nicely winning all four games of the season, scoring 8 times and conceding only once. If they can keep this form Beechhill United could be playing 2^nd division football next year.

The starkly contrasting fortunes of F.C. Drumbawn could be due to their almost complete lack of activity in the transfer market. A total of three players have been brought to the club during the off-season, for the small sum of 2.5 million, none of which are at the standard to play well in division 3. While F.C. Drumbawn have some existing talented players, especially goalie Alin Chiriac, defensive midfielder Marcone Silva and midfielder Muhammad Mohammad, the vast majority are over 30 and in the latter stages of their career. In fact Mohammad is on the transfer list along with back-up goalie Connor O’Rourke. While those two players leaving might provide the necessary capital to improve the team F.C. Drumbawn will find themselves extremely exposed with no backup keeper and no youths ready to make the step up to the first team. It’s worrying times for the newcomers who surely need to strengthen the team, especially in need for a new striker. Four games played and no goals scored is a bad omen for the season and if action isn’t taken now relegation is almost surely guaranteed.

Currently second in the table is Baile Átha Cliath FC. This is the teams second year in the division after finishing 4^th last year. “De Dubs” will surely look to build on the successes of their debut season and have a good chance at pushing for promotion again this year. No new faces have been added to the squad as of yet this season so the manager is obviously happy with the existing team. Indeed there are some talented players running right through the first eleven. Young goalie Gerry Hammill, who denies any relation to “Luke Skywalker” Mark Hammill, is an imposing sight between the posts. Centre half Bobby Seator is a rock in defence. The diamond midfield pairing of defensive midfielder Hedzer Keukenmeester and offensive midfielder Jamie Murphy are the driving force behind the team. And in attack Irish NT striker Iain “De Dub” McGorry has been scoring the goals, three in four games this season. The team has been in sparkling form so far winning three games and drawing one, scoring 12 goals on only conceding 5, and winning 6-0 in one of those games. If those players stay injury free and that superb scoring record continues “De Dubs” will be there or thereabouts at season’s end.

Right on Baile Átha Cliath FC’s heels, the same as last season, are Rathgar Utd. In the game since season three “The Gars” spent five seasons in division 2.1 before being relegated to division 3.1 in season 8. This is their 7^th season in the division in 8 years, only managing promotion to division 2.1 again once before being relegated again. A third place finish in season 14 and a fifth place finish last year shows a top of the table consistency but inability to break into the top 2. Could this be their year once again? “The Gars” have obviously been focusing on youth development for the last few years and their squad has only 13 players over the age of 22. There is an abundance of talent up front with the like of Liam McKenna and Jimmy Montgomery both in the goals this season with midfield general Maarten Dubois, player of the season for the last two years, setting up many of the goals. Indeed the whole midfield is full of class. Defensive stalwart Ray Cotter is the model of consistency again this year. Adding to that some exiting youngsters, most notably Irish offensive midfielder Kevin McCabe, and Rathgar Utd have a squad more than capable of playing 2^nd division football. The one area “The Gars” have been lacking in recent years has been their goalkeeper. Steps were taken last year mid-season to address that problem and shot stopper Dominik Halfar was bought for 123 million. The experienced goalie looks to be the final piece in the puzzle for Rathgar but as luck would have it he sprained his ankle in the third game of the season and has been ruled out for the next three games. With solid backup goalie Liam Boland stepping in “The Gars” may be ok. But the next 3 games are crucial. Any points lost could see them losing ground at the top of the table and when Halfar is back staying injury free is a must.

Finishing out the top 6 are recently relegated Twente and two promoted teams Frederick blue and Minaccia alcolica. Twente have been in division 3.1 before from seasons 11 – 13 and will be anxious to bounce back to the 2^nd division at the first time of asking. Minaccia alcolica were run away winners in division 4.3 last year with Frederick blue claiming second spot. All three currently have 9 points with Twente only ahead on goal difference. Twente’s transfer policy during the summer has been to buy Irish for cheap and five squad players have been brought in. The whole squad is solid if unremarkable with striker Marian Cambal one of the highlights. Niko Cryljenica and Filipp Zyryanov have been solid in previous years but may struggle this year due to their advancing years.

Minaccia alcolica have brought in a few players to help make the transition to 3^rd division football, with forward Jirka Holy looking the best of the lot. They have also brought in central defender Adam O’Farrell to shore up the defence but may have paid over the odds for him. The have an excellent right and left defenders in Cathal Smith and Callum O’Kane so obviously a good defence is the key. One or two more players may need to be added if the team are to maintain their good form.

Frederick blue have opted not to splash the cash on new players thus far. They have a solid midfield made up of John Hennessy, Shane Croke, Jamie O’Neill, Adam Mahoney and Kim D. And veteran striker Zafir Haidar will score a few goals along with strike partner Jamie Cassidy. But the defence may struggle against the better teams. It looks like there is some money in the bank so some of that could be spent wisely on some better defenders. But the team is playing well and stands a good chance of earning a top 12 spot right now.

Currently in mid-table mediocrity are division 3.1 second timers Enfield Celtic and Markchester United. Both “The Paupers” and “The Screwdrivers” have had patchy starts with the latter slightly worse off. Markchester United manager Mark Bohan is obviously concerned and has acted quickly to stop the rot signing 3 players in the last 24 hours. Opting for youth new striker Nasr "محمد الطويل" Al Moussaoui seems the most promising of the three. The team already has some talent players with striker Ryan Wilson one of the stars. The manager will be looking for some good performances from some of the older players this year to improve on last year’s 7^th place finish. Enfield Celtic have added only one player during the off-season, midfielder Baha Al-Jamaan. He has put in two solid displays so far and has slotted in well to his new team. Goalkeeper Connor Thompson has done well since coming into the team and the defence has only conceded twice so far. Worryingly the attack has produced only 4 goals so far so that will have to be looked at.

DVD FC find themselves in 9^th place at the moment.  This is “The Islanders” 8^th straight season in the division and last year they had their best ever season finished in 3^rd place agonisingly close to promotion. DVD FC have a wealth of talent at their disposal with 10 players over 10,000 asi. One of the most promising is  young striker Conor O’Gorman who already has 29 goals for the club. The form over the first 4 games hasn’t been the best but with the quality this team possesses they should have no trouble beating any other team in the division.

Ransboro Rovers, Galway and newly promoted Ballybard FC round off the top 12. Ransboro have splashed the cash on flamboyant attacker Humayd Al Tunian. The long shot specialist has had a quite start to the season with only 1 goal in 4 games but at 26 years old there is plenty to come from him. “The Wrens” have finished in 10^th place for the last two seasons and will hope to improve on that this year. They have a capable squad and should be well able to move up the table. Galway have had a disappointing start to the season. With only one new addition to the team, winger Mark Ferdinand, the team have simply being conceding too many goals. While young keeper Patrick Johnson is performing well his ageing defence is letting him down. All the back four are over 30 and arguably their most talented defenders, Kadir Redawi and Jack Buckley, are being left out of the team. With some talented midfielders and a decent front line it’s the defence that really needs to be sorted out. The team has already been on the wrong end of a 6-0 scoring. If this form continues they will struggle to stay in the division. Ballybard FC won division 4.1 last season and have found the step up to division 3 a bit of a challenge. However it’s early days yet and with a few stars scattered throughout the team, especially forward Oisin McMahon and defender Sujan Chethan, they should be able to move up the table. Ballybard FC are another team that are finding it difficult to score goals. The recent signing of striker Muragan Al Suksomkit shows the manager is aware of the problem but he could do with signing another goal scorer to give them options and cover for injury.

Polomen, newly promoted MUFCmcdaid and manchester city TM find themselves in the relegation zone with only one win each. Both Polomen and manchester city TM finished in the bottom half of the table last year. With no players added to either teams they will both likely struggle again this year. After winning division 4.2 last year MUFCmcdaid are finding life in the 3^rd division tough going. The manager has added four new players to the squad for this season. Unfortunately none are really good enough to help push for a top table finish. The squad itself is only average and this is another team that is struggling to score goals. Some better players have to be signed if they are go get out of the relegation zone.

The only other teams ahead of F.C. Drumbawn are Crazy Cows and Athletic Llewellyn. Both teams are without a win after 4 games and find themselves in the bottom 3. Athletic Llewellyn won promotion to division 2.1 in season 14 and finished bottom of the table last year with only 4 wins all season. Club finances are not great and as such they could only bring goalkeeper Tong Jingquo to the club recently. With no decent backup keeper and a worryingly small squad the team look like they will struggle this year. Crazy Cows finished mid table last year and have decided not to add any players to the squad before the start of the season. Striker Daragh Stewart is a decent player but is struggling to score goals. The rest of the team are average at best and without some new players they will struggle this season.