In my opinion, the most difficult sport in which to remotely predict the outcome of games or competitions is football. The sport is littered with flops, shocks, collapses and totally unforeseen and unpredictable situations. Take Stephen Bradley for example. Three short years ago, following an FAI Cup defeat away to Drogheda followed the week after by yet another Bohs derby defeat in Tallaght (both 0-1 scores), many fans doubted Bradser was the man to take us any further. His was a brave move to give plenty of youth its chance, shipping out dead wood and completely refurbishing the team and style after taking caretaker charge of Rovers in July 2016 following the end of Pat Fenlon’s Rovers era.
The board was under pressure from fans to act in 2018. The board didn’t wilt. Bradser didn’t wilt. For that we should be eternally grateful. 2019 saw palpable league progress and some wonderful football, ending in that glorious and emotional FAI cup penalty shootout victory over Dundalk to end the 32 year FAI cup famine. Bradley’s (and the board) patience and belief had paid off with the only possible comeback, silverware. That the team had finally landed a Cup again was tremendous, that they had done it with some wonderful attacking, progressive and aggressive football had Rovers fans really excited and expectant for the 2020 season.
The team took the momentum of that Cup win into the early days of the 2020 season with a welcome last minute winner on the opening day away to Bohs (Greener gleefully hacking the ball over Talbot after he fumbled a McEneff shot on a horrible stormy day) and nobody who was there will ever forget the incredible 3-2 win over champions Dundalk in Tallaght at the end of February to give Dundalk an early calling card that the tide was turning between them and us. It was as good a game as I’ve been to in all my years attending LOI games. Then we all know what happened a few weeks after that as the world stopped and we would see no football played in Ireland for four months.
Fans would continue to not see their team in the flesh for a further year after the league recommenced in July 2020 and the season was shortened from 36 games to 18. Bradser’steam however simply steamrolled the remainder of the shortened season, playing some absolutely scintillating football, winning 15 and drawing only 3 of the 18 games played to see Rovers become champions of Ireland for the first time in nine years following Michael O’Neill’s back to back titles in 2010 and 2011.
It was a real shame for the team, the club and the fans that we could only see Ronan Finn lift the trophy on an internet stream. I get completely there were bigger issues to complain about, but attending football is more than about the 90 minutes cheering your team on. It’s a way of life from the day you get hooked, it’s passed on from generation to generation, it consumes your daily thoughts, you meet and retain friends for life, you laugh and cry with them, it’s so much more than 90 minutes of football. Having that taken from your life for so long was so difficult and definitely affected many people’s mental health and being restricted to watching such great, winning football on a phone or other device was just not the same. For some who aren’t technologically savvy or equipped, they couldn’t see the games at all. That remains the biggest shame of Bradser’s first title victory as manager. It’s my opinion that Rovers would’ve won the title over 36 games by a record margin, such was the power, brilliance and ruthlessness of the 2020 squad. From the evergreen Alan Mannus, to a similarly eternal Joey O’Brien and towering Pico Lopes at the back, to the energy, productivity and sheer magic of Aaron McEneff, Jack Byrne and Gary O’Neill in midfield to the industry and quality of Aaron Greene and Graham Burke up front, this was a special Rovers squad in 2020 and a bigger appreciation of their efforts was lost due to that horrendous pandemic.
Nevertheless, it’s in the record books regardless the circumstances or reservations of others. Rovers were Champions of 2020 and nobody could touch them or take that title away from them.
A double was now on the horizon as the Cup final stretched into December 2020 and still no fans permitted to attend. I was one of the lucky ones who was there to cover the game with Audio Descriptive Commentary for visually impaired fans with our now CEO Denis Donohue on an absolutely Baltic winter’s night in Lansdowne Road. That double should’ve been landed as Rovers took an early second half lead through Aaron Greene, but a five minute shitshow turned the final away from Rovers as McMillan got two (one a penalty) only for Pico to take the game to extra time with yet another headed goal from a Jack Byrne corner. A second mini-shitshow saw Dundalk get two late extra time goals from Hoare and McMillan again to reclaim the FAI cup from us. I was very taken by Bradser’s subsequent reaction to the defeat where he asked us to take the emotion out of the equation and see that we played very well for the most part (we did) but made a few costly errors and overall in the 90 minutes should’ve won. As fans, emotion is our default mode at and after games, but having watched the game back as I always do if it’s on television and doing as Bradser advised without the emotion, Rovers had indeed done more than enough to win the double but it wasn’t to be. Again that takes me back to my opening paragraph, in football you just don’t know what’s gonna happen.
The most difficult part after you win a title is to retain it. Teams will raise their game a few percentage points to be able to say we drew with/beat the reigning champions. It goes with the territory. But if the 2021 season taught us anything, it was that a team is champions for a reason. Bradser would say so often (it was like watching on a loop) to “trust the process, trust what we do”. Injury time winners against Longford (three times), Drogheda, St Pats (twice) and late equalisers against Pats (opening game by Greener) and away to Sligo (Gaffney) bore out Bradser’s mantra to trust that process. The 2021 team just kept going to the very last second, it happened so often it wasn’t luck, it was sheer doggedness and trust in the process. “Bradley Time” became a term, “that’s why we’re champions” eventually got an airing as fans gradually got back into grounds and the fans’ presence re-energised the team, something Bradser alluded to time and again after fans started returning.
Rovers had lost the power and talent of the 2020 midfield of Byrne and McEneff, Bolger had moved on to Sligo but Bradser signed well with Gannon and Hoare departing a Dundalk in disarray, Mandroiu rescued from a miserable 2020 from Bohs and experienced Chris McCann acquired as he returned to Ireland. Rediscovering the 2020 form without McEneff and Byrne would be a challenge and an alteration in the style, but Rory Gaffney’s return to fitness after a miserable 2020 would also give the team a new dimension and the prospect of Richie Towell joining in July 2021 also gave Rovers fans added anticipation.
A new LOI unbeaten record was set by Bradser’s 2019 to 2021 squads, a remarkable 33 games, was finally ended by Dundalk at Oriel Park in May as the team showed they were human after all. A mid-season injury crisis saw some fans press a few premature panic buttons, but some Rovers players continued to play when they probably shouldn’t have and others just couldn’t tog out, but Rovers with those late goals chiselled out wins and other contenders such as Pats and Sligo couldn’t take advantage of Rovers slip-ups. Rovers lost (for them) a whopping five times and Bohs fans contented themselves with their usual graceless wins over the champions and knocked us out of the Cup on a toxic, hate-filled orgy at Dalymount Park that is best forgotten for every conceivable reason from one who was there. There’s a bigger picture as always in football, Rovers see it, others deem not to and that’s why they win nothing.
European football in 2021 was a case of if only. A really tough Champions League assignment against Slovan Bratislava was almost rescued with a truly magnificent second leg performance in Tallaght. The first leg heat of Bratislava was a factor as Rovers sunk to a 0-2 defeat (Mannus saving a last minute penalty to keep us competitive for the home leg) and in Tallaght, with 1500 fans admitted as restrictions began to abate, the Hoops levelled the aggregate thanks to an early Burke penalty and a Towell Exocet from the edge of the box. Slovan were on the ropes, physically and mentally done only to be rescued by a terrible refereeing decision in the build up to Slovan’s goal when Lopes was clearly pushed. Highway robbery, Rovers couldn’t get a third to go to extra time and the Europa League Conference beckoned instead.
Teuta of Albania were comfortably (eventually) knocked out, the most negative and annoying team I’ve ever seen play against us were beaten 1-0 in Tallaght by young Aidomo Emakhu in Bradley Time and two great Gaffney goals from two great Liam Scales assists over there (Scales would’ve won Player of the Year for me only for Celtic buying him in August) saw Rovers into a group stage play off with Flora Tallin, who we had knocked out ten years before with Finn and Mannus among the team then. A rare defensive shambles in the first leg saw us lose 4-2 away and it again proved too much of a mountain to climb as a similarly rare Mannus gaffe at home saw us lose 0-1 and out of Europe in disappointing fashion.
But there was still a league to be retained and although Bohs knocked us out of the Cup and Finn Harps beat us up there in the league after Europe, the four game losing streak and more panic buttons pressed were stopped by wins over Waterford, Sligo and Pats (all to nil). We went 15 points clear after an entertaining 2-1 win at home to Derry (with the visually-impaired fans initiative finally coming to fruition allowing them to finally be at a game in Tallaght) and though we let Dundalk off the hook again in Oriel losing 0-1, we followed that up with a brilliant 2-0 victory over Sligo.
A Neil Doyle-inspired sending off of Lopes against Bohs was rescued by an excellent second half display to rescue a point which should’ve been three given Rovers dominance with a man less and left Rovers needing six points from their final five games to retain the title.
Three of those points were again hard won as relegated Longford for the fourth time lost out to Rovers by a one goal margin, albeit with the winning goal coming in the 66th minute and not as in the previous three encounters in injury time. On an absolutely brutal night for any sort of flowing football such was the wind and lashing rain at Bishopsgate, a couple of hundred Hoops huddled together getting soaked to the skin to see substitute Graham Burke volley the winner on the rebound after fellow sub Mandroiu’s shot was saved by Stacey from Gaffney’s centre. Nobody cared that it was a shite game, Burkey’s goal moved the title closer and with Pats beating Dundalk the following Monday (after beating them in the Cup semi final three days earlier), it set up Tallaght Stadium on the following Friday and a possible title winning home game against a Finn Harps team still not safe from the relegation play-off spot.
Harps stood between Rovers and winning the title before our home fans for the first time since 1994 but any nerves the fans had were well and truly shed in the fourth minute when Mandroiu raced onto Gannon’s pass from deep and showed again his speed, control and composure to round McGinley and score a superb goal. His second was even better after 25 minutes and only a floodlight failure was gonna stop Rovers taking the title on the night. A lovely little move in the right corner saw Watts drill a cross into the middle and Mandroiu stooped to steer a superb header into far corner.
2-0 and in cruise control.
It was brilliant to see young Aidomo race onto Burke’s slide rule pass and in a similar position to his Bohs chance, Aidomo this time showed Mandroiu’s composure by rounding McGinley and firing in a deserving first league goal for this most promising of kids to put some icing on the Hoops cake.
3-0, three points, 19 leagues and open the champagne. Final whistle and everyone on the pitch, photos, videos, selfies with players and staff, two years celebrations about to kick off. Brilliant.
So the title was retained with three games remaining. Retaining a title is always a sign of a great group of players and a special manager. That is utterly the case with this group and Stephen Bradley. The league table never, ever lies. The pandemic played havoc with every facet of life in so many different ways. That Rovers won the shortened title in 2020 in such magnificent fashion lifted our spirits despite not being able to celebrate in person with the team and management. That we couldn’t mark the 2020 win in bars together was a real sickener. That this group has retained the title means the fans can celebrate properly the winning of two titles and one can be sure the celebrations will be epic, fun and long lasting. As they should be.
Despite the usual jealousy, obsession and noise from other teams and their fans and one utter fool of a “pundit”, despite RTE’s continued disrespect to the domestic game (nobody will convince me they respect it until we see palpable proof of it), despite over half of the season remaining behind closed doors, it’s been another season to remember for Rovers fans. There were all those injury time winners and late equalisers. There were goals to relish: Scales (twice) against Dundalk, Gannon against Dundalk, Towell against Slovan, Burke from the halfway line up in Derry, Mandroiu’s brace against Pats and again in the Harps game, Gaffney’s brace over in Albania and Scales “collision” with Bolger in Sligo, so many great moments again that led to the ultimate goal of retaining the League of Ireland Premier Division and the prompt purchase of a new flag at the tunnel with the number 19 to go opposite the 25 Cup wins flag.
So thanks to Bradser, Glenn, Darren, Stephen Mc, Tony and Jose; thanks to the incredibly talented, focussed, disciplined and winning players who ended our Cup famine in 2019 and followed it up with successive titles, that is what you call consistency and progress. Off the pitch too, the team and staff are massively generous with their time to meet fans, ring fans who might be unwell, stop for photographs, whatever it may be nothing seems too much trouble for them. For fans that is huge, be you 6 or 86. These lads get what it means to play for Rovers and they give back a lot of what the fans give them. These are great times to be involved with Rovers.
Thanks and well done too to everyone else giving their time and effort to Rovers. From everyone in the superb Hoops Scene programme, ticket sellers, Rovers shop staff, Covid officials, public address, stewards, ball retrievers, mascots, food provision (to the team), audio descriptive commentators, SRFC TV (Con and Garts absolutely knocked that out of the park), photographers, media team, training/pre match/after match interviewers, Tales from the East Stand podcast, I’m not sure I’ve left anyone out there, what a season it’s been again, everybody deserves to properly celebrate the retention of the title.
We still have much to look forward to next year. A drive for three successive titles, not achieved by Rovers since 1986. The building of a new Stand at the Square end which will complete our wonderful home venue. The (hopefully) retention of as many players as possible and required additions. The continued growth of the Academy and an increased fanbase. The continued full attendance return as we continue to try live with and eventually defeat Covid. There is always room for improvement however and in Bradser we have a manager who will not rest on his laurels or dwell on past successes. It’s all about the process as he says all the time and trusting it. It hasn’t worked out too badly so far.
Thanks Rovers. Bloody well done.
irelandfaneuro2012 
