Irish Premiership: Can anyone stop Larne? – New season talking points

It has not been the busy summer that both sets of fans across Belfast’s great divide would have been hoping for. Indeed, Linfield and Glentoran have combined for just seven summer signings in the window so far.

The Glens finished third last year after occupying second for majority of the season and there was a sense of frustration at the end of the season when the campaign concluded with no silverware.

After taking their league challenge to the penultimate day, and losing the BetMcLean Cup final for the second year in succession, manager Declan Devine will know another season without a trophy will not go down well with the east Belfast faithful.

Pat Hoban hit the ground running during his first season in the Irish Premiership and was the league’s top goalscorer last time around, but adding to their attacking threat would still have been a priority this summer. That, however, has not come to fruition as yet.

As for Linfield, last season was a big contrast to the previous year when they won the league in such convincing fashion and, despite beating Glentoran to that trophy in March, it was a season which prompted more concern than excitement.

After losing talisman Cooper to Coleraine last summer, the Blues failed to fill the big gap that he left behind and scored at least 12 fewer goals than the rest of the top four.

This year, they will be hoping that Kieran Offord’s return from injury and new signing Kobei Moore can help David Healy’s side, who will be keenly aware of the money spent by clubs around them.