It was mission accomplished for Cork, who managed to win the title and end Dundalk's three-year dominance of the national championship.
City opened the season with a 3:0 President's Cup win over Dundalk and, even though that game is a glorified friendly, the result was a sign of things to come, as Cork went on to display unprecedented dominance for two thirds of the season, having won 21 and drawn 1 of their opening 22 games.
This run, which lasted until the end of July, pretty much ended the title race, but Cork ended up needing far more time to mathematically secure the title than they were expected to, as they only clinched it with three games left to spare.
The reasons for their decline in the final third of the season are debatable. It is quite possible that their players started to switch off after building up such a huge advantage, but the departures of star men Sean Maguire and Kevin O'Connor were also definitely a reason, as the two men left to join Preston in mid July and Cork were never the same since.
Despite playing in only 21 games, Maguire was Cork's top scorer by a clear margin at the end of campaign, with Karl Sheppard being the only other player to hit double figures. It currently seems that Cork are likely to struggle to retain the title unless they sign a player capable of replacing Maguire's scoring output, at least to an extent.
