Stephen Bradley spoke to shamrockrovers.ie before the penultimate League match of the season.

Kick off in Oriel Park is at 5pm. All away tickets are sold out. The match will be streamed live on LOITV.

Rovers had a good 4-1 victory against Larne in the UEFA Conference League on Thursday, it must have been a happy coach drive home on Thursday night. 

“Yes it was. It was a really important night for us, our first win in a European group stage match and an away win also. The fact it was in Belfast and everyone was building it up as North v South Champions, it was a really good win. I thought the players were excellent on the night and fully deserved to win. They played to a really high level which was pleasing to see.”

As we know, goals, especially early ones, often dictate the outcome of a game. So Josh Honohan’s early one really provided a strong early foundation for the rest of the game.

“Yes it did. We all know goals give you momentum in games or can take it away, so scoring after two minutes really calmed us. To be fair, after we scored, I thought we were sloppy for ten minutes and allowed Larne back in the game, but we settled again and took over the game. But the timing of the goals was brilliant.”

You’d said before the game, the big and decent Windsor Park pitch would suit us. The team certainly bore that out with some outstanding build up phases and chances created and most importantly taken to give us that 3-0 halftime lead.

“As I said when we measured the pitch, it was slightly bigger than Flora Tallinn’s which was the biggest pitch we’ve ever played on. So we knew the Windsor Park pitch would suit us with our style, regardless of how Larne played. There would be spaces on the pitch, whether it was in front of them, down the sides, or in behind them. The players exploited them really well.”

Was travelling by coach to Belfast rather than all the hassle and energy air travel takes out of players also a factor in how we were out of the blocks so quickly against Larne?

“I don’t think you can underestimate that. I know people can look when you’re away from home and might think the flight is two hours, it’s grand, but you’re in the airport a few hours before, hanging around afterwards, the coach travel to hotels, all that takes a lot out of the body. Not having that flight before the Larne game, you could see the players were fresh and that definitely helped us.”

Given our player availability at this stage of the European season as against last season, it really is imperative for Irish club teams to have their strongest available group to compete at this level, no disrespect to players who stood up last season in Europe.

“Yes it’s so important to have your squad in a healthy place in the second part of the season. That’s why we’re still in the fight for the league title and doing ok in Europe. We obviously didn’t have that availability in the first part of the season with the numbers. I think you’ve seen in the second part of the season, with those numbers and our points return in Europe speaks for itself. So it’s so important to have a healthy squad at the business end of the season.”

But as you always say, Thursday is gone and focus one turns to our penultimate league game away to Dundalk. You said the group is in a really good place in terms of every player being ready to step in if you deem it necessary to shuffle the pack for Sunday.

“It’s so important to move on, we’ve always done that and it’s been a strength of this group regardless of the result. It was important to enjoy Thursday night but it’s gone, it’s done and forgotten about, and is something we’ll speak about in years to come. But now, it’s full focus on Dundalk. What’s been really pleasing about the group is, the last couple of months or longer, is when players have been called upon, they’ve stepped up and been ready. It’s a frustrating time for players as they want to play every game and every minute. That’s a difficult one for them to accept and understand thatm but what’s been pleasing is the players have been ready when called upon, and that’s been really pleasing.”

We suffered a defeat at Oriel Park earlier in the season. Both teams have gone in different directions since then with Dundalk’s relegation to next season’s first division. They will still provide stern opposition in a must-win game for us which will keep the title race alive till the final game next Friday in Tallaght Stadium.

“I’ve no doubt they will. Look at their team and squad with Andy Boyle, Robbie Benson, John Mountney and Daryl Horgan. These are players who have won everything there is to win in this country. They are fantastic professionals and I’m sure they’ll be ready to go tomorrow. I watched their game with Derry, there wasn’t much in the game. So they’ll give us a really difficult game and we need to be ready for it. We need to go with the right mentality and reach our performance levels and see where that takes us.”

Did everyone emerge ok from the Larne game and how are Seán Kavanagh and Seán Hoare?

“Everyone came through the Larne game ok, a few bumps and bruises, standard for a game. Seán Kavanagh is good, he picked up a knock last week but he got it looked at and is good, he will probably not make tomorrow, we need to be cautious and Seán Hoare will be similar. We tried to push Seán Hoare a little early but he’s just not quite ready, so we hope he’ll be back for Waterford and if not, the week after. But he’s getting there.”