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The new Women's Premiership season is almost upon us and the big question on everyone's lips will be can anyone stop Glentoran?
The Glens won the 2025 title with a 1-0 victory over Cliftonville on the last day of the season and will look to retain the trophy this year.
The Reds are likely to be their nearest challengers, but can the likes of Linfield, Lisburn Rangers or Crusaders close the gap to the top two?
BBC Sport NI looks at how all eight teams are shaping up before the opening day of the season on Friday.
Cliftonville
Cliftonville won the League Cup and Irish Cup in 2025, but still came away disappointed as they relinquished the league title to Glentoran.
The Reds are targeting a clean sweep of domestic trophies this season according to striker Carla Devine.
"We want to retain the League Cup and the Irish Cup but there is nothing better than having the league trophy," she told BBC Sport NI.
The north Belfast side have strengthened what was quite a thin squad by bringing in players with Women's Premiership experience.
Goalkeeper Maddy Harvey-Clifford has arrived from Crusaders while defender Hannah Doherty has returned after a spell with Linfield.
Exciting teenagers Aoife Gargan, Lucy Kelly and Charlotte Havern have also joined as the Reds look to challenge on multiple fronts.
Brendan Lynch's side will of course be without Marissa Callaghan, with the decorated former Northern Ireland captain announcing her retirement at the end of last season as well as Naomi McLaughlin, who joined Aberdeen in January.
Devine said that while it was "sad to see her go", former club captain Callaghan remains involved with the senior team as a coach and will push the side to achieve more success.
Cliftonville had the best defence in the league last year but scored 22 less goals than Glentoran.
They will hope that the likes of Devine as well as McGuinness sisters Kirsty and Caitlin can shoulder the goal scoring burden that fell largely on midfielder Teegan Lynch last season, who was a standout performer.
Crusaders
Crusaders had a decent 2025 campaign, finishing fifth in the table but level on points with Lisburn Rangers above them.
Jonny Tuffey's side may have lost one of the most consistent goalkeepers in the league in Harvey-Clifford but they have managed to bring in two exciting additions from Linfield in the form of Mia Fitzsimmons and Rebecca Bassett.
Both the midfielder and the striker had seen their playing time reduced at the Blues in recent years but they bring experience and quality to a young Crues side.
Defender Caitlyn Hamilton said that while their aim in the league will be to "work towards" closing the gap to the likes of Linfield just above them first, they want to enjoy some deep cup runs and bring back silverware to Seaview.
"We really want to win silverware, the past couple of seasons we're getting to finals and not got that clinical edge to get the trophy," she said.
Their hopes in the League Cup are already over after defeats against Glentoran and Lisburn, so they will target the Irish Cup next.
Their first two league games are against sides that finished below them in Larne and Derry City, so they will be hoping to get off the mark with six points.
Derry City
Derry City finished sixth last season, well clear of the bottom two but six points off Crusaders above them.
The task for the Candystripes this year, according to midfielder Caitlin Doherty, will be to close in on the Crues and ensure they finish above an improving Lisburn Ladies side.
"We want to aim to finish higher up above Crusaders and Lisburn," she said.
Her teammate Erin Hegarty added that pre-season has been "great" with a new coaching set-up at the helm.
Jarlath Canning has been appointed head coach after a spell within the club's academy structure and he will be tasked with bringing some of Derry's young players through.
Leah Craig is the only signing of note from Crusaders, but they have been dealt a blow in losing influential defender and captain Shannon Dunne to rivals near the bottom of the table Larne.
Derry will also play their first seven games of the season away from home with the work being done at the Brandywell and face a difficult first game of the season away to Linfield.
Glentoran
Glentoran's aim will of course be to retain the league title but they will also like to end Cliftonville's dominance in both the League Cup and Irish Cup.
Defender Emma McMaster knows they will have to have another consistent season to do so with Cliftonville set to challenge them again.
"We know the pressure we have is a privilege. Cliftonville have really driven us on the last few seasons and it will be a very competitive year."
The Glens, who will also play in Europe this year, have a really exciting squad packed with experience and exciting young players including the likes of Northern Ireland internationals Kascie Weir, Aimee Kerr and Mia Moore, who will all want to kick on again this season.
They have also added Northern Ireland underage internationals Daisy and Gracie Conway from Lisburn Rangers.
Defender Daisy made 30 appearances for Lisburn Rangers last season while Gracie scored 23 goals in 39 games.
The Glens netted 67 goals last year and with the likes of Conway, Weir and Emily Wilson in their ranks they possess a serious amount of firepower to repeat that this year.
Larne
Larne endured a difficult 2025 campaign, finishing bottom of the table and registering just one victory.
They shipped 67 goals and scored just 12 so there are obvious routes for improvement at both ends of the pitch.
The Inver side have had a busy off season with Matthew Crawford replacing Daniel Carlisle as manager and he has brought in Clare Carson as a first-team coach from Cliftonville.
Crawford has strengthened the team by bringing in four players from Championship winners St James Swifts in Aimee Johnston, Chloe Doak, Chloe Tully and Rachel Dennison as well as Ana Walsh and Jennifer McDaid from Glentoran, Chloe Walker from Lisburn Rangers, Maureen Quinn from Crusaders and Derry City captain Dunne.
They will aim to move off the bottom of the table and be more competitive this season according to Chelsea Irvine who says they want to "make sure we make an impact".
"It's more professional this season and very positive," she added.
That was exhibited in the group stage of the League Cup as they pulled off a surprise 2-1 win over Lisburn Rangers.
Linfield
Linfield finished third in 2025 but were a distant 12 points behind second-place Cliftonville, who they also lost to in the Irish Cup final.
The Blues had no problems scoring goals, finishing as second highest scorers in the league behind the Glens due largely to their deadly strike duo of Eve Reilly and Cora Chambers, who new goalkeeper Lillie Woods has backed to continue their effective partnership this season.
"Eve and Cora are natural goal scorers and we have a lot of faith in them and I'm sure they'll put in good performances this year," she said.
Woods will be tasked with helping Linfield keep more clean sheets after they shipped 27 goals last year.
With Ashley Hutton retiring and Fitzsimmons leaving they have lost a lot of experience but have moved to bring in McLaren from Crusaders and Stacey Murdouch from Lisburn, with both having played in the top flight for a number of season.
The Blues will look to cut the gap to the top two this year and bring some much-needed silverware back to Midgley Park.
Lisburn Ladies
Lisburn Ladies will want to continue their upward trajectory after establishing themselves in the top flight in the previous two seasons, but it is set to be a difficult one given sides around them like Larne have strengthened significantly.
They finished seventh last season, but still were still six points off than bottom side Larne having picked up three victories.
A statement signing in the off season was their acquisition of well-travelled striker Claire Shaw, who has scored goals for the Crues and Cliftonville in the top flight as well as the addition of defender Shona Davis from the Reds among a host of others.
They have lost key midfielder Murdouch to Linfield and face a tough first game away to Cliftonville, but defender Jessica Hall said they are "raring to go" and have set some clear goals.
"We have loads of new faces in so there's more competition for places and everyone is eager to get started.
"We want to finish higher than what we did last year. We would like to take a point or all three from one of the top four teams and collect more points at home."
Lisburn Rangers
Lisburn Rangers finished fourth last season, seven points off Linfield above them after an inconsistent campaign.
They have brought in the likes of Bernie Ferreira, Sasha Clarke and Sophie O'Rawe as they look to remain competitive in the top half of the table, but the standout signing is Skye Bacon, who comes in from England.
First-team coach Jack Little said Bacon has "set the standard" at the club as they look to continue their steady progress in the division.
They start with a tricky test against champions Glentoran, but defender Erin McGreevey is confident they can cause an upset.
"If we play to our standards we can put any team to the test. We've played Glens and Cliftonville before and its gone to the wire, so it's down to us bring the performances."
