Rovers back in action with ten-point lead on top of table

SHAMROCK Rovers made their return to the League of Ireland last Sunday against Derry City in Tallaght Stadium after almost a month of playing exclusively European and domestic cup fixtures.

Coming back to league action Rovers found themselves still firmly placed at the top of the table after Bohemians and Derry City had failed to truly put on any pressure with the games in hand.

Rovers would win the game 2-0 thanks to a pair of second-half goals from veteran Rory Gaffney.

It would actually be Derry who went closest to opening up the scoring after Michael Duffy struck the post just ten minutes into the game.

The remainder of the first half would be quiet enough with both teams having half chances that were unable to lead to anything substantial.

The second half would immediately turn the game on its head however with a superb run and cross from Josh Honohan allowing Rory Gaffney to poke home a simple tap-in finish only minutes after the beginning of the second half.

Rovers would smell blood in the water after and would continue to pressure Derry’s goal with new signing Conor Malley almost scoring a goal of the season contender with an outside of the box effort that rattled the frame of the goal.

Derry would hold on for another 15 minutes or so until a quick counterattack saw Gaffney in the box again with a tidy finish and quick feet fooling his man and goalkeeper.

The result sees Rovers go ten points ahead of second-place Bohemians at the top of the table, with all teams in the league now having the same amount of games played.

Many will feel that win against Derry and the Bohs defeat to Drogheda has all but cemented a victorious league campaign for Rovers.

Still, their focus is away from the league for their next game as they travel to Kosovo this Thursday to take on Ballkani.

The Kosovian side have won three of their last four league campaigns and came second last year, what is perhaps even more impressive is their run of European form being the first team from Kosovo to ever qualify for a European Group stage in 2022 and replicate the achievement in 2023.

After the game against St Joseph’s in the previous round last Thursday Bradley touched on the opposition and what he made of them in their games so far and compared them to other European opposition that Rovers have faced.

“They [Ballkani] were good, the first leg they were good, they won quite comfortably.

‘They got caught out with a silly goal early on but after that they were very good.

‘They scored four and it could’ve been more. They fully deserved to go through and I didn’t have any doubts with that game. They’ll be a tough time.”

Bradley commented on the atmosphere he expected in Kosovo.

“Usually that’s what you get [a tough atmosphere] when you go to that part of the world and play those type of games. But again it’s something that we’ve seen before and experienced before.

“We’re ready for it.”

Shamrock Rovers are set to take on Ballkani Thursday evening at 7.30pm in Kosovo.