Bradley stokes fire over Gannon move

STEPHEN BRADLEY has claimed that Shamrock Rovers made a move to sign Dundalk defender Sean Gannon after the player let it be known he was interested in coming to Tallaght.

And he has responded to Stephen Kenny’s view that the Hoops ‘threw the kitchen sink’ at Gannon by quipping that the Dundalk boss must have thrown an entire kitchen at the player to keep him.

Gannon signed a new three-year contract with Dundalk in November and he’s due in Tallaght tonight for the first meeting of the season between two sides that enjoyed some ferocious contests in 2017.

Bradley did not deny that the Hoops were in for the Dubliner when he was out of contract, yet he says that Dundalk ultimately used their financial muscle to keep their man – and he implied that the right-back made the original move.

“When good players make an approach to you to talk to them, you talk to them. It’s as simple as that,” said Bradley. “If we threw the sink, Stephen must have thrown the whole kitchen at him.

“Whether they are Cork players, Dundalk players, Derry players, it doesn’t matter who they are. If they are interested in playing for your club, you meet them.

“Can we match Dundalk and Cork financially? No. That’s as simple as it is. If we threw the sink at him, Stephen has a big kitchen to throw. He beats us hands down every time at that.”

Both sides are in need of a strong showing tonight after a disappointing opening to their respective campaigns. Dundalk were held at home by Bray, while Rovers suffered a late collapse to lose the Dublin derby to Bohemians.

The Hoops boss said that “ten minutes of madness” were to blame. He acknowledged it was a poorquality game, but anticipates a contrast from that when Dundalk visit.

“It’s a totally different game,” he said. “It’s a football game, isn’t it? You have to move the ball, you have to be brave on the ball and you have to respect that they will play football.”

Rovers midfielder Greg Bolger said a 40-minute video review formed the basis of a post-mortem. “You can’t dwell on it,” he said. “You have your head wrecked for a day or two after but once Monday came it was all geared towards Dundalk.”