Lee Grace will have a key role to play for Shamrock Rovers. Photo by George Kelly
‘We’ve seen how important the bench has been this year’
Shamrock Rovers enjoyed a fruitful trip to Gibraltar last Thursday evening as they managed to score four past St Josephs, putting themselves in an excellent position for the second leg UEFA Conference League clash in Tallaght tonight.
Rovers would open up the scoring with Rory Gaffney converting in the first quarter of the game.
St Josephs would refuse to roll over however and attempted to mount attacks towards the Rovers goal though their efforts failed to create any real meaningful chances.
Rovers backline of Dan Cleary, Lee Grace and Roberto Lopes provided more than enough experience to expertly deal with any adversity that came their way paired of course with Ed McGinty in goal.
It would be the introduction of talisman Jack Byrne that would cement Rovers’ status on top and ensure they would run out the victors.
Following Byrne’s introduction Rovers would score three goals in the next eight minute period with Danny Mandriou, recent signing John McGovern and Byrne himself all contributing to the 4-0 rout. Notably wonderkid Michael Noonan also chipped in with an assist.
Bradley touched on the inclusion of Noonan in the squad.
“I’d imagine Michael was really disappointed not to start tonight, We’d forget his age at times, his movement is really really high level stuff and it was a great ball for John [McGoverns] goal.
Speaking after the game Stephen Bradley commented on the continued development of the squad.
“We’ve seen how important the bench has been this year and again tonight it was evident and it’s going to be that way going forward.
‘There’s players on the bench and players at home who feel that they deserve to start and that’s the way it should be when you have a strong group.
‘But it’s really important when they come on that they do their business and contribute and take us up a level and the subs did that again tonight which was really pleasing to see.”
Looking ahead to the match tonight Bradley commented on the team selection, particularly regarding Rovers return to league action this Sunday evening.
“The scoreline will definitely play a part in the team selection next week. Also, there’s players that deserve an opportunity and players that are just back from injury that we need to get up to scratch.
‘We’ll definitely look at moving things around on Thursday with Sunday and the following week in mind as well. We’ll definitely look at shuffling it”.
