LOI Premier Division Odds, Tips & Weekly Acca – Matchday 3

In this post, you can find our League of Ireland tips and predictions along with our weekly acca ahead of the opening weekend of the LOI Premier Division season.

It’s that time of the week year again! “The Greatest League in the World” is back to light up your Friday Nights and weekends! This promises to be as compelling as ever, with Damien Duff’s Shelbourne side looking to retain their 2024 Premier Division success.

LOI Week 3 Acca Selections

Shelbourne vs Shamrock Rovers –  Shelbourne 1 Goal Ahead @ 20/21

Cork City vs Bohemians –  Draw @ 2/1

Derry City vs Waterford –   Waterford +2 @ 4/9

Drogheda vs Galway United – Drogheda 1 Goal Ahead @ 13/10

St Patrick’s Athletic vs Sligo Rovers –

An accumulator with these selections pays at approximately 42/1 with BoyleSports.

Shelbourne v Shamrock Rovers– Friday 7.45 pm,  Virgin Media 2

Odds

Shelbourne – 7/4

Shamrock Rovers – 6/4

Draw @ 2/1

Preview

Plenty hypothesised that 2025 would be a more difficult year for Damien Duff’s Shelbourne side would struggle to retain their unlikely 2024 Premier Division title victory. What’s transpired thus far is a very different story, with a dominant 2-0 win over Drogheda in the President’s Cup Final, a 3-1 victory over Derry City on opening night where at times they tore their opponents apart and most recently a 0-1 away win against Waterford.

This past fortnight for Rovers hasn’t been ideal both domestically and in Europe. They lost their historic season opener against Bohemians at the Aviva. Following that defeat were eventually knocked out of the Conference League after a 4-5 defeat on penalties after losing 1-0 in normal time. Their weekend game against Cork City was called off on Sunday due to poor conditions.

Prediction: Shelbourne 1-0 Shamrock Rovers

Shelbourne have started the season strongly and though Rovers are favourites their squad is threadbare at the moment so I fancy the home side by a narrow margin.

Best Bet Shelbourne 1 Goal Ahead @ 20/21

Cork City v Bohemians– Friday 7.45 pm, LOI TV

Odds

Cork City @ 12/5

Bohemians @ 11/10

Draw @ 2/1

Preview

Cork City played out a 2-2 draw at Turners Cross on opening night against Galway United and though there were elements to build on fitness and physicality the overall performance had supporters purring that their return to the Premier Division this time could be far more positive with the likes of Maguire, Keating, O’Sullivan et al. With their weekend game against Rovers’

Bohemians opened their season with a historic 1-0 win at the Aviva Stadium against Shamrock Rovers following the 25th-minute goal from Ross Tierney with a record LOI crowd of 33,208 in attendance. That along with an extremely positive off-season in the transfer market (at least on paper) had many name-checking themselves as “dark horses” in the Premier Division. Last weekend they lost 1-0 against Derry City a game where they had 8 shots to their opponent's 9 and had the majority of the ball (56%) but it wasn’t enough for the win.

Prediction: Cork City 1-1 Bohemians

There hasn’t been a draw between both sides in their last seven meetings, but I fancy them to cancel each other out on this occasion.

Best Bet Draw @ 2/1

Derry City v Waterford – Friday 7.45 pm,  LOI TV

Odds

Derry City @ 8/15

Waterford @ 5/1

Draw @ 11/4

Preview

It’s been a Jekyll and Hyde start to the season for Derry City’s squad and management losing their opening game of the Premier Division  3-1 against Champions Shelbourne they were fortunate to not lose the game by more having been very open at the back. However, to their credit, they earned themselves a 1-0 win over Bohemians last Friday Night restricting their opponents to just one shot on target.

Waterford came on the right side of a 2-3 thriller against Sligo Rovers at The Showgrounds on the opening weekend of the season. However, that result didn’t tell the full story being outshot 25 to 5, only having 37% of possession and having to rely on a penalty save from McMullan. Last weekend they lost their first home game 0-1 against Champions Shelbourne. They head into this game winless against Derry City in their last seven matches.

Prediction: Derry City 2-1 Waterford

Derry City have invested heavily in their squad and will be expected to win this game at the weekend with Waterford having to deal with a near five-hour trip.

Best Bet: Waterford + 2 @ 4/9

Drogheda v Galway United – Friday 7.45 pm,  LOI TV

Odds

Drogheda @ 3/1

Galway United @ 10/11

Draw @ 21/10

Preview

Drogheda and Kevin Doherty continue to silence doubters avoiding relegation and landing the FAI Cup last season. They’ve taken that form into 2025, though they were well beaten in the Presidents Cup opener against Shelbourne 2-0. Since their league campaign has opened they’ve gone unbeaten earning a 0-0 away draw against Pats on opening night and they got their first win last weekend earning a comfortable 3-0 victory over fellow “relegation rivals” Sligo Rovers.

Galway performed excellently following their promotion to the Premier Division last season eventually finishing fifth well clear of relegation and at one point were considered in the title race. It was always going to be interesting to assess whether they could keep the good times rolling into 2025 and though their quality was lacking at Turners Cross on opening night their fitness and physicality. Last weekend they then earned an excellent 2-1 win over Pats at Eamonn Deacy Park.

Prediction: Drogheda 1-1 Galway United

Two unbeaten sides who’ve put up results against the odds against supposed “better teams” in the opening weeks, I can see them cancelling one another out.

Best Bet: Drogheda 1 Goal Ahead @ 7/5

St Patrick’s Athletic v Sligo Rovers– Friday 7.45 pm,  LOI TV

Odds                                                                                         

St Patrick’s Athletic @ 2/5

Sligo Rovers @ 11/2

Draw @ 10/3

Preview

Expectations were high for Stephen Kenny’s St Patrick’s Athletic side before the season and though it’s early days they’re yet to land their first win following a 0-0 draw against Drogheda at Richmond Park and fell to a disappointing 2-1 loss to Galway United last weekend. Don’t be fooled though they’ve won one of the strongest squads in the country and it’s a matter of when and not if they click into gear.

Sligo Rovers are a well-run community club, who overperform based on the resources they’re given which is a credit to both John Russell and his squad. However, 2025 was always going to be a tough season for the Bit O’Red with a total of fifteen players gone/unavailable from their original squad in 2024. In their opening game they were potent going forward against Waterford and were somewhat unfortunate to lose 2-3, but last weekend they were poor in their 3-0 defeat to Drogheda.

Prediction: St Patrick’s Athletic 2-0 Sligo Rovers

Both of these sides have had less-than-ideal starts to their season, but I expect Pats to be far too good this time around and they will finally land their first win of the season.

Best Bet: St Patrick’s Athletic -1 @ 23/20

*Prices are subject to fluctuation

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