Athlone Town are in an arguably even stronger position to retain their SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division despite losing last season's top scorer, according to former Republic of Ireland international Méabh De Búrca.
The new season kicks off on Saturday with the Midlanders coming off the back of a league and cup double-winning campaign spearheaded by the goals of Kelly Brady.
However, the US-born Ireland call-up has since left for Crystal Palace in January, seemingly leaving a void up front.
But in the meantime, Athlone brought striker Dana Scheriff back to the club and it was she who proved super sub on Sunday, netting the winner as they beat rivals Shelbourne in the Women's President's Cup.
For De Búrca, John Sullivan's side remain the class of the field and favourites to go all the way again.
"They seem stronger this year," the Galway native told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast as she and Shelbourne stalwart Rachel Graham previewed the new season.
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"Dana Scheriff's back in there and she won the golden boot a couple of seasons ago too, and I'd expect her to start going forward in the league.
"They have the quality of Chloe Singleton and Kayleigh Shine, those local players too and Hannah Waesch I think is a real quality player for them. She got the captaincy this year as well.
"So I really think it's going to be Athlone's league maybe to lose.
"They have new ownership since last summer as well, so that sort of investment is hard to compete with.
"But it's going to be interesting to see if they start this season how they left last season."
Athlone Town manager John Sullivan on his squad for the new season
While Shelbourne will have an eye on the title, other members of the chasing pack like Galway United, Shamrock Rovers, Wexford and others have another target to focus on.
Second place in the league now offers a spot in the UEFA Women's Europa Cup, with the champions still Champions League bound.
"I think the fact that there's going to be two European spots up for grabs this season will add another dimension to the league," De Búrca said.
"In the past it would've been only the top one or two teams vying for the title. But now those third, fourth, fifth-placed teams will be trying to get into that second European spot, so it should make for a really interesting season I think."
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