Hoops boss Stephen Bradley promises to attack APOEL encounter before crunch Shels clash
With the League of Ireland community giddy on the excitement of Monday’s Tolka Park thriller, and the title race implications spinning out of it, the opening night of a European group stage campaign – or league phase to give it the new correct term – has become a sub-plot to the bigger picture as opposed to a central pillar.
And yet, it’s hard to get away from Rovers’ role in what has unfolded in 2024. At the start of the year, the expectation was that the Hoops would win an unprecedented fifth title in a row, and have a good crack at extending their European campaign into December.
They succeeded in the latter mission with a tie to spare, banking more than €4m in prizemoney with the expectation that the bottom-line figure could rise to closer to €5m even if they don’t do well in the new Conference League format. With €400,000 on offer for a win and €133,000 the reward for a draw, they clearly have the scope to do even better than that.
There’s always the fear that this type of success will put Rovers out of sight, although Dundalk’s demise and the fact that the Hoops recorded a €2.3m loss last year has perhaps put reins on such long-term predictions.
But it must also be acknowledged that a relatively relaxed response to their European progression under that heading in the summer was fuelled by the belief that Stephen Bradley’s side had played themselves out of the title picture, thus meaning that another club would get a shot at the champions route riches in 2025.
Nine defeats from 32 league games, including a 3-0 loss to St Patrick’s Athletic last Friday, represents a dramatic drop-off in performance level. And yet they’re still not out of it. Shelbourne and Derry City’s respective stumbles have placed the Hoops in a position whereby victory over Shels on Sunday would leave them two points off top spot with three games remaining.
He said all the right things yesterday about full focus on the visit of APOEL Nicosia this evening, an encounter that Rovers should have no reason to fear given how the volatile Cypriot club can be unpredictable on their travels. But there were Rovers players who felt that the only silver lining on their league struggles was the chance to concentrate all energies on marquee European ties, something they weren’t able to do two years ago because there was so much importance placed on retaining the league in what was a condensed autumn on account of the World Cup in Qatar.
This time around, their six Conference League fixtures are spread evenly across October, November and December which means that only this encounter and the short trip to face Larne in three weeks’ time will result in league matches being pushed to Sunday.
While away days in Rapid Vienna (November 28) and Chelsea (December 19) will be extremely challenging, Tallaght dates with Welsh top dogs TNS (November 7) and Bosnian champions Borac Banja Luka (December 12) offer opportunities for points and the possibility of a top-24 finish in the 36-team ladder that would grant them a knockout fixture in the New Year.
APOEL isn’t the be-all and end-all, but there will be a lot of eyes on the Rovers team-sheet to see if Sunday is on the radar.
Bradley did say after the loss to St Patrick’s Athletic that his team were looking fatigued after a tough schedule.
“I should have changed it up more against Pat’s and we didn’t and that’s down to me,” said Bradley, who did receive a boost in the aftermath when it was confirmed that Josh Honohan suffered a spasm rather than a serious injury so is in the picture for inclusion tonight.
“I don’t think this week, Thursday, Sunday [fatigue] will be an issue. After Sunday, we don’t play for over a week. It’s just attack tomorrow and then attack Sunday.
“I really like this format because it does make you go and attack every game. You have the licence to do that because no-one knows for sure how many points it’s going to take to get to a play-off or qualify.
“The fact you don’t play them home and away can be a disadvantage as you get a real good feel for them on the first time around, you understand what they are trying to do and how you can hurt them. But I do like the challenge of the one-off games, it makes it exciting.
“And having a lot more time to prepare for games, it will suit us. It allows us to play deep into December. I’ve always said our off-season is too long and I can’t understand why. I do like that.”
Of course, for Bradley’s players there is a shop-window element to this campaign. Danny Mandroiu’s decision to return home on a short-term stint was influenced by group stage play and facing higher-calibre opponents with a view to impressing Heimir Hallgrimsson. Winger Neil Farrugia has stalled on agreeing a new deal because of the doors that European fare could potentially open.
This could also help Bradley’s standing too, given he was never really in the picture for Hallgrimsson’s job.
“I’m not bothered about how people view me to be honest,” he said. “I understand what I’m good at and what I need to improve on. We’re all developing, we’re all learning, we’re all getting better.”
That hasn’t always been obvious this year. But Rovers still have the chance to make 2024 their own.
Shamrock Rovers v APOEL, Live, Premier Sports 2, 8.0
