Stephen Bradley: Michael O’Neill told me there’d be days like this

SHAMROCK Rovers’ training base at Kingswood was bathed in brilliant sunshine yesterday but manager Stephen Bradley and his players badly need a pick-me-up result against Limerick in Tallaght tonight (8pm) to dispel the dark clouds which currently assail the club.

The Hoops go into the game at a low point in their season after three successive league defeats. The first, to Dundalk, could be classified as honourable but the last two — against arch-rivals Bohemians and, just a few days’ later, a shock reversal against basement side Bray Wanderers — have piled on the pressure, from the terraces to the television studios.

Bradley doesn’t deny that this has been the toughest week of his time at the helm in but insists that there is no need for panic.