Sligo Rovers and Waterford will start the new campaign under the lights at the Showgrounds on Saturday evening, with both teams going into the season hoping to kick on from last time out.
With the Bit O'Red finishing sixth and Waterford seventh last season, both sides probably met expectations as Rovers improved on their eighth-placed finish in 2023, while Waterford cemented their place in the league after winning promotion.
Operating under one of the smallest budgets in the league, Sligo boss John Russell has had to be creative with his incoming and outgoing players and has, at the time of writing, brought eight new additions in, with the possibility of more to come.
Big things are expected of midfielder Jad Hakiki, who signed on a two-year deal from Dundalk and has been impressive in pre-season, while former Hibernians player and Co Cavan native Jake Doyle-Hayes will be hoping to kickstart his career after an injury-ravaged spell where he played just two matches in 18 months.
Russell has had to wheel and deal to keep the balance of his squad in the right place, having seen the likes of Ellis Chapman and Simon Power move on, having established themselves at the Showgrounds last season.
It remains a work in progress and with Harvey Lintott the only player that Russell has brought in on loan at present, the Sligo boss is looking to that market to strengthen further.
"I'll be hoping to get definitely one, hopefully two players in before the deadline," Russell said. "There's a lot of work going on in the background.
"We do have loan options. I definitely want to bring in a midfielder and a defender, they are the two positions that I think will definitely help the squad.
"We're maybe going into the unknown a little with Waterford given that they've made so many signings. They possibly feel the same way about us. But we have them as well researched as we can and we are well prepared."
As Russell alluded to, Waterford manager Keith Long finds himself in a similar position to the Sligo boss, welcoming in nine new players to a much-changed squad, although he has been able to keep hold of more of his bigger performers from last season.
Veteran striker Padraig Amond is sticking around for another term and will wear the captain's armband, having scored 14 goals in 36 appearances to jointly win the Golden Boot with Patrick Hoban.
Many of Long's off-season signings are of an attacking persuasion and while the likes of Trae Coyle, Tommy Lonergan and Conan Noonan have been brought in to help offer Amond more ammunition, Waterford fans will hope that the arrival of Maarten Pouwels will mean that they're not quite so reliant on their skipper.
Like Sligo, Waterford will go into the new campaign dreaming of a European place but also wary of not getting dragged into a relegation fight and with so much change at both clubs, Russell is hoping that his side can make an early signal of intent against a team they're likely be scrapping with all year.
"We'll be going up with the mindset of trying to get a positive result," he said. "We've obviously looked into them this week as best we can.
"They've got a few new players through the door, but we'll be well prepared. We've got a lot of lads that have played in the league against Sligo numerous times before, so we'll have that bit of experience going into it.
"It's about what we do and what we bring to the table on Saturday night and if we do that, we're confident that we can get a positive result."
Follow the RTÉ Sport WhatsApp channel for the best news, interviews, analysis and features, as well as details of our sports coverage across all RTÉ platforms.
