Oct 09,2024
Not too long ago, there was a sense that Shamrock Rovers' hopes of winning a fifth SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division title were slipping away.
But Sunday's 2-0 win over Shelbourne means the Hoops have dragged themselves to within two points of Damien Duff's league leaders, while Derry City and Galway United also remain in close proximity - the Candystripes with two games in hand - as an unpredictable campaign approaches the final straight.
But last week was also a positive for Stephen Bradley's squad with Dylan Watts' late, late header earning Rovers a 1-1 draw at home to APOEL in their opening match of the UEFA Conference League proper - a result even more notable for the fact that Neil Farrugia's second yellow card left them down to ten for 40 minutes.
With one point in the bag and daunting fixtures against Rapid Vienna and Chelsea later in the 'League Phase', the next two fixtures against Northern Irish champions Larne and Welsh outfit The New Saints have been viewed as potential opportunities to try and rack up the points that could give them a shot at becoming the first League of Ireland club to reach the knockout stage of a European competition.
Bradley went for a more "pragmatic" and athletic midfield of Gary O'Neill, Markus Poom and Darragh Nugent, behind Danny Mandroiu and striker Johnny Kenny against APOEL, with Jack Byrne and Watts coming off the bench to provide the assist and equaliser respectively as the ten men threw caution to the wind.
But could one or both of the latter two be thrust into the team from the start against Larne and TNS to add a creative spark against opponents viewed as less potent than the Cypriot champions on the continetal stage?
"They could but they have to be respectful of Larne. We made the comment three weeks ago that the likes of Larne and TNS would be delighted that they got Rovers (in the draw) as well," he said.
"So you have to respect them. Larne will be delighted because they kept their manager. (Tiernan Lynch) was heavily tipped to get the St Johnstone job and I think he pulled out in the end and stayed with Larne.
"So they'll be delighted with that and they'll get a boost from that and they'd feel an Irish club coming up to Northern Ireland to play at Windsor Park, they'll be thinking, 'Right, let's go at them here, let's have a go'.
"So Rovers have that 'sit or twist' on it. Do they go all out to say, 'Can we win it?' Or it's still an away fixture in Europe?
"I think they have enough to go and trouble them, I think they have enough to go and win the game against Larne.
"But how they go about that, I don't know. We'll see how Byrne is after he went off injured in the game (against Shelbourne).
"Do they try and push him back for this game? I don't know. They've a game the Sunday against Dundalk after the Larne game.
"So is it a case of play him in Windsor Park and not play on the astro against Dundalk?
"In Europe they've been a lot more pragmatic in terms of their midfield personnel, so it will be interesting to see."
