Soccer Teams of Ireland

I support Limerick FC. I would say that part of the league's problem is the dominance of GAA outside of Dublin. Historically, members of the GAA were banned from playing "garrison games", of which soccer was one, and thus soccer's appeal was linked to the towns. Also, there are large parts of the country that aren't represented by any LOI team. In Scotland, soccer is the national sport and of course there is the infamous Old Firm derby, which perhaps artificially boosts soccer in Glasgow (interestingly when Rangers went bankrupt, the league's stature suffered greatly, so now that they are back in the top division, things should improve again). Switzerland is in many respects similar to Ireland, though I think that Basel have been helped a lot by Champions League money. Dundalk's success in the Europa League this past season does give room for some optimism, though it remains to be seen if this can be repeated.