‘Drogheda was the most important game last week; Larne is the most important game now. If we look past Larne and look at Sunday (against Dundalk), we will leave here with our tail between our legs,’ he warned last night, ‘Larne have been setting the standards up here for the last few years. I’ve watched them for some time. They’ve been building.’
Bradley doesn’t buy into talk about the outcome being a arbiter of the respective strengths of the League of Ireland and the Irish Premiership.
‘Regardless of the result tomorrow night, it’s a one-off game. It’s impossible to judge where both leagues are on one game.
‘If you really want to get a feel for it, the top teams of both leagues go into a competition, which we had before with the Setanta Cup,’ said Bradley.
Two years ago, Bradley had less wriggle room to shuffle his pack for Thursday-Sunday games in the Conference League and the League of Ireland but even without the suspended Neil Farrugia and the injured Seán Hoare, he has plenty of options.
‘We’ve learned a lot from that experience. We did some really good things then and some not so good things.
‘We had nine or 10 players going game-to-game. But this time around, the squad is in a much better place.
‘When you have played in Europe and so many European games, as this team has, you become better and stronger.
Mentally you are in a much better place to deal with Thursday-Sunday games, because you understand what the challenges are.’
Aside from the tag of ‘All-Ireland’ bragging rights, another sub-plot sees the McEneff brothers, Aaron of Rovers and Larne’s Jordan, face each other for the first time in competition.
‘I thought it was going to happen sooner when Jordan was at Derry,’ said Aaron, at 29, the older by six years.
‘Through injuries and stuff for the both of us, it hasn’t panned out that way but for it to happen this way in Europe is a bit more special. Both of our journeys have been quite similar. We both moved to London at a young age and then ended up coming back home.
‘You try to give him advice and things you’ve learned along the way but at the end of the day everyone has got their own pathway. My extended family will be at the game. I think half of them will be sitting at the Rovers end and half will be sitting at the Larne end.’
McEneff is fit again after a foot injury and Bradley is backing him to deliver in a green and white shirt.
‘This is the best shape he’s in for some time. I’ve no doubt with his mentality, work ethic and ability, Aaron can become what he was before he left, which in my opinion is the best No 8 in the country.’
Four years ago, McEneff was called into the Republic of Ireland senior squad by Stephen Kenny for a Nations League games against Bulgaria.
A reminder of his talents would be timely for both him and Rovers.
LARNE v SHAMROCK ROV Kick-off: 5.45pm, Inver Park. TV: LIVE on Premier Sports 1. Ref: Vassilis Fotias (Greece).
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Publish date : 2024-10-24 00:35:00
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