“We know it’s a derby and no matter what form they’re in they’ll come here and it’s different here but we’ve got to make sure that we’re ready for that, that we play with the same energy and desire that we have the last few games. If we do that we’re
“We know it’s a derby and no matter what form they’re in they’ll come here and it’s different here but we’ve got to make sure that we’re ready for that, that we play with the same energy and desire that we have the last few games. If we do that we’re more than a match for anyone. But we can’t underestimate anything Pat’s are going to bring, we know they’re very dangerous going forward, they have Christy Fagan and Conan Byrne, people who can score goals so we’ve got to make sure we’re on our game. We’ve been excellent at home, we’ve started games really well here and we’ll look to do that again tomorrow. We’re catching teams by surprise by how quickly we can start. Our aim is Derry and Bray and I firmly believe we can catch both.”
So said Shamrock Rovers Head Coach Stephen Bradley in advance of his side’s SSE Airtricity league game against St. Patrick’s Athletic. Hoops goalkeeper Tomer Chencinski added this nugget. “We’re a better team than Pat’s up and down the park.” On the night, they weren’t. Pat’s dominated the early possession stakes but coughed up an early Graham Burke goal. Rovers bossed the first half thereafter. Christy Fagan spurned a first half chance to equalise but made no mistake when set up by Conan Byrne’s persistence after half-time.
Post the Pat’s match, Bradley dissatisfied view was, “First half we should have been out of sight. Second half we were flat and it cost us. We looked tired and we conceded a terrible goal from our point of view. A draw was a fair result as we didn’t do enough second half.”
Asked about his side’s discipline after the Bray match on Tuesday, Bradley felt, “It was good. The sending off on Friday was unfortunate, it’s just the way Davy tackles. He mistimed it by a second. It was a sending-off but I was pleased that we didn’t have any silly bookings.” However, against Pat’s, Graham Burke saw red for an unprovoked attempted kick on Pat Cregg. That was the seventh Hoops sending-off of the campaign, the worst in the Division and left Stephen Bradley’s charges hanging on at the end, as Pat’s missed some late chances to take all three points.
“It’s not acceptable what Graham did tonight,” said Bradley. “Tackles are part of football but for someone one to lash out like that, it’s not acceptable. Graham knows that. The squad knows that.”
