Bradley Jr. lifts hearts as champions Rovers lift silverware in style
FIGHT OF A CHAMPION: Shamrock Rovers captain Ronan Finn lifts the trophy as Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley lifts his son Josh Bradley after the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match between Shamrock Rovers and Derry City at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
On and on Shamrock Rovers rampage, clinching deals with gusto and leaving the pretenders trailing in their wake.
With a hat-trick of titles already wrapped up by the Hoops, this was supposed to be an opportunity for Derry City to lay out their stall at Tallaght Stadium for next year’s charge but Rory Gaffney’s 38th-minute goal – lifting his league haul into double-figures – highlighted the chasm which still exists between the league’s top two.
Should Stephen Bradley’s Rovers finish the season with another win at UCD next Sunday, the 79 points will be their record tally for a league triumph in the 10-team division era.
It wasn’t just a night that illustrating the clinical edge of the domestic domineers, for Josh Bradley – the manager’s eight-year-old son recently diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia – was the special guest on the pitch at the end to lift the trophy.
As promised by Candystripes manager Ruaidhrí Higgins, the visitors were gracious in their league defeat by forming a guard of honour for the undisputed champions.
Grin and bear it that they did, serial league winner from his Dundalk days, Patrick McEleney, restricted his applause to the first team, breaking away prematurely to complete his pre-match warm-up with the fitness coach.
If the Candystripes are to achieve their stated aim of bringing the title back to Foyleside for the first time since 1997, it is Rovers they’ll have to overthrow.
It’s just as well they can depend on billionaire Philip O’Doherty to expand their budget to keep pace in the spending stakes with a club €4m better off from reaching the group stages of the Conference League.
Uefa’s third club competition may be scoffed at in some quarters but it’s the outlet through which champions of small federations can hit the jackpot.
Despite finishing second, Derry had held the upper hand over the Hoops during the season, losing just once and ending their ambitions of a first double since 1987.
Winning at Tallaght is the next milestone they’ve to hit to be considered bona fide contenders and, for all the talk of how unlucky they were in the 1-0 May defeat, results are the currency of value.
Proof that Higgins is still working out his best team was evidenced by five changes in his team from that loss.
Then, they were without two of their marquee recruits, locals Michael Duffy and Patrick McEleney, but the supposed strengthened team looked further off the mark five months on.
Things might have veered a different direction had Duffy not lost his balance after just two minutes. McEleney, clearly pumped up to lay down a marker ahead of the 2023 renewal, scooped a cross to the back post where his former Dundalk colleague miscued off-balance.
Jamie McGonigle then had claims for a penalty under Riche Towell’s challenge rebuffed before Ronan Boyce was inches from connecting with Cameron Dummigan’s Kevin De Bruyne-style cross.
A bright start for Derry but like the blitz of flares lit by the jubilant Hoops fans, it soon went up in smoke.
One surge down the Rovers left transpired to be decisive - Andy Lyons driving to the end line and squaring a low cross into the six-yard box.
Shane McEleney’s attempt to clear was futile, for the prone defender succeeded in deflecting the ball into the path of Gaffney to poke home.
Cheered on by their best league turnout of the season, Brian Maher denied Rovers a second two minutes later by batting away a ferocious angled drive from Towell.
Teenager Justin Ferizaj also went close as the game turned, curling a left-footer past the far post approaching the break.
McGonigle remained a threat after the break, only to rifle his shot over within minutes of the turnaround before another of efforts was thwarted by Alan Mannus, the 40-year-old custodian Stephen Bradley is desperate to keep for next season.
Rovers never lost control while Derry failed to up the tempo. Each side saw a late free-kick blocked by the wall, a metaphor of what Derry will face to derail the four-in-a-row crusade of the champions.
A Mannus; D Cleary, R Lopes, L Grace; N Farrugia (G Burke 76), S Hoare (R Finn 86), S Kavanagh (G O’Neill 86), A Lyons; J Ferizaj (S Gannon 57), R Towell (J Byrne 76); R Gaffney.
B Maher; R Boyce (J Akintunde 76), M Connolly, S McEleney, C McJannett; S Diallo, C Dummigan; P McEleney, W Patching (J Thomson 74), M Duffy (B Kavanagh 74); J McGonigle (R Graydon 74).
Rob Harvey (Dublin) Attendance: 7726.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
