Athlone Town to kick off under-15 title defence at home to Mayo League

Inaugural under-15 National League champions Athlone Town will kick off their title defence at home to Mayo League as the competition begins its first full season.

The midlands club became the first under-15 league champions when they brought the truncated first season to a close with a 2-1 win over St Patrick's Athletic at Lissywollen in November.

Other highlights from the opening week will see UCD face Cabinteely in a Dublin derby while Waterford host local rivals Wexford in the southernmost section.

The 2018 season will see a change in format as the 24 team will now be split into three geographical groups instead of four.

The eight teams in each group will face each other home and away, resulting in 14 games in total during the regular season before the knockout stages begin in September.

There will be one change in personnel as well as St Kevin's Boys have partnered up with Bohemians ahead of the 2018 season and are replaced by Carlow Kilkenny FC.

The three groups will be split up as follows:

Group 1: Bohemians, Derry City, Drogheda United, Dundalk, Finn Harps, Monaghan-Cavan Partnership, Shelbourne, St Patrick's Athletic

Group 2: Athlone Town, Bray Wanderers, Cabinteely, Longford Town, Mayo League, Shamrock Rovers, Sligo Rovers, UCD

Group 3: Carlow Kilkenny, Cobh Ramblers, Cork City, Galway United, Kerry League, Limerick, Waterford, Wexford

Click the link to see fixtures for Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3.