February 14th to 16th - Shelbourne kicked off their title defence with a three-one win at home to Derry City. Sean Boyd was off the mark quickly, scoring two goals and earning bonus points for those of you who chose him in the goal scorers category. Derry were level briefly through Michael Duffy before Evan Caffrey quickly restored the home side's lead. A power cut at half time delayed the second half by the best part of an hour while Damien Duff fumbled for change for the meter. No goals followed in the second 45 as the champions started with a win.

A very strong end to last season have many people tipping Stephen Kenny's St Patricks Athletic as potential champions. However, the Inchicore side failed to find a way past a well-organised Drogheda side. Kevin Doherty's cup winners will be very happy with a hard earned point. Cork City's return to the top flight saw them share the points with former manager John Caulfield's Galway United. The Galwegians proved very difficult to beat last season and it looks like they've carried that into the new season - they came from behind twice to take a point from Turner's Cross.

Saturday night's game saw Waterford win three-two in Sligo. The turning point in that game saw Sligo miss a penalty to level at two-two just before Conan Noonan scored to make it three-one for the visitors. Sunday's showpiece of the opening weekend saw Bohemians beat Shamrock Rovers one-nil at the Aviva. Ross Tierney scored the winner in the first half as Alan Reynolds's side finallly won a cup final at the stadium. Rovers will rue missing a number of second half chances to earn at least a point but will take plenty of positives from the 90.

Dundalk's first game in the first division saw them beat Athlone Town one-nil. Ciaran Kilduff's side took all three points against his former club courtesy of Vinnie Leonard's first half goal. Wexford lost their manager and a few players over the close season but they still recorded an impressive win at UCD. They won three-nil with Aarn Dobbs among the scorers.

There was late drama in Limerick where Cobh Ramblers came from two-down to beat Treaty United three-two. The visitors scored three times in the last ten minutes, including two in injury time, to earn an unlikely three points. Kerry beat Finn Harps two-nil to start their season with a win - Joe Adams opened the scoring and then got sent off but the Kingdom side still saw out the win. Saturday night saw Bray Wanderers start their season with a one-nil win in Longford - the only goal came in the first fifteen minutes with the goal awarded to Kyle Degelman.

The first leaderboard of the season sees Francis Gilligan ahead of the rest with a score of 47 points. He's two points ahead of Sean Judd in second place. Darragh Kenny and Tommy Hamill share third place on 40 points, just seven off the lead. The top five is completed by Eoghan Brophy on 35 points - full details below:

February 23rd - Last week it was a power cut, this week it was the weather as three games fell victim to the rain. Shelbourne are the only side in the top division to make it two wins from two - a single goal was all that was needed to beat Waterford at the RSC. Mipo Odubeko scored the only goal as the champions made it two wins from two ahead of Shamrock Rovers' visit to Tolka Park next weekend.

St Patricks Athletic were fancied as many people's title favourites but defeat in Galway leaves them with no wins from two. Pat Hickey scored two goals as John Caulfield's side won two-one. Aidan Keena scored for the visitors but it only proved a consolation for the Inchicore side. Bohemians' 100% start to the season came to an end after a one-nil defeat to Derry at the Brandywell. Michael Duffy's free kick was the difference between the sides as both managers received red cards early on in that one.

The only other game in the top division saw Drogheda record a three-nil win at home to Sligo. Kevin Doherty's side made it four points from two games thanks to goals from Thomas, Markey and Heeney. Shamrock Rovers game at home to Cork City was called off late on due to the weather in Tallaght. If I'd known that before heading up the M50 you could have had your scores update a bit earlier.

In the first division, Dundalk made it two wins from two. They won one-nil at Finn Harps with Sean Keogh scoring the only goal. The eye-opening result in the division came from Athlone where the away side, Treaty United, scored five without reply. They could have done with some of those goals in Cobh where it finished scoreless between Ramblers and Kerry. Another nail in my weekly accumulator..

Three people share top spot after the second round of games - Darragh Kenny, Sean Judd and Tommy Hamill all have 66 points. Last week's leader, Francis Gilligan, is still well in contention just four points off the lead. Tommy Tormey completes the top five with just next weekend's games to go before we have our first monthly winner of the season:

February 28th - The Ringsend Derby ended with the points shared at Tolka Park. Shelbourne were ahead within two minutes after Harry Wood found the net after a scrappy exchange from a corner. Shamrock Rovers lost Lee Grace to an injury in the same sequence of play but soon found themselves level. Conor Kearns collided with his own player in gathering a cross. Aaron McEneff benefited, scoring the equaliser for Tallaght side. Both sides could have won it - Damien Duff's side finished the stronger but Rovers defence held firm - Pico Lopes putting in a great shift at the back.

If you were after goals then Inchicore was the place to be on Friday night. St Patrick's Athletic recorded their first win of the season, beating Sligo Rovers by the odd goal in seven. A**an K**na followed up last weekend's goal in Galway with two more, including a late winner after Sligo had come from three-one down to level. Chris Forrester also scored for the Saints on his 300th league appearance for the club. A bad night for Barry Baggley saw him score an own goal and receive his marching orders late on.

Elsewhere, Sean Maguire and Ruairi Keating scored for Cork City in their two-one win over Bohemians at Turners Cross. Derry City slipped to a surprise defeat at home to Waterford, losing two-one. Keith Long's side are now second in the table after two very good wins on the road in the North West. Drogheda United and Galway United are also unbeaten after they shared he points in a one-all draw on Friday night.

A third consecutive one-nil win for Dundalk sees them top the first division table. This week's win came at Kerry. Dean Ebbe scored the only goal in the first half and the Lilywhites held on for the win despite Leo Gaxha's red card before half time. Wexford made it two wins from two with a two-nil win in the N11 Derby, beating Bray Wanderers. Stephen Elliot's side came out on top thanks to a goal in each half from Mikey Rowe.

Treaty United were second in the table on Friday night after a three-one win at home to Finn Harps. There has been no shortage of goals for the Limerick side so far this season having found the net ten times in their first three games. Cobh Ramblers looked to be heading for their second win of the season but were denied late on by UCD's Eanna Clancy in their one-all draw at Belfield.

An excellent score of 53 points from Friday night's games saw Tommy Hamill win our first monthly competition of the season. His haul included three ten-pointers. Darragh Kenny finished in second place, seven points behind the winner. Gerry Moore was third with John Brophy and Sean Judd sharing fourth place for February: