St.Pats qualified for European football more often than not in the previous decade, but were coming from a poor league campaign, with their saving grace last season being the fact that they won the League Cup.
The fans were hoping that Liam Buckley's men would manage to respond to the poor campaign they had and finish inside the top half at worst, but it soon became obvious that this would not be the case, as the Saints spent the majority of the season inside the relegation places and unsurprisingly so, as they won only three of their opening twenty games.
With the league changing structure and three sides being relegated as a consequence, several clubs that were around the Saints in the table opted to make managerial changes, but they decided to stick with Buckley and it was a move that was justified in the end, as their fortunes started to improve.
They ended up ending the season with a run of twelve games in which they lost only twice, but their struggles earlier in the season had left them with a lot to do and they only secured their survival in the final round. However, it was definitely mission accomplished by the Saints, who will enter next season with plenty of optimism surrounding them, given the sort of momentum that they have.
