Youthful Bit O’Red finish off 2018 season in style
SHAMROCK Rovers manager Stephen Bradley branded his side’s performance ‘unacceptable’ as they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Sligo Rovers at The Showgrounds on Friday night.
Bradley accepted that his side were second best for most of the night, but was left angered by their display.
“I’m disappointed. We weren’t good enough and didn’t deserve anything from the game.”.
Apart from a handful of chances in the opening 10 minutes, the Hoops rarely threatened the goal of Mitchell Beeney.
“We should have been ahead in the first 5/10 minutes, we had one or two chances. But other than that, we didn’t do enough to have an impact on the game. We were slow in our possession and sloppy, no tempo out of possession. No we didn’t deserve anything.
“We just switched off, we just looked like we switched off. You can’t do that in this league. It doesn’t matter how good or bad you do, you get punished. We obviously switched off tonight and got punished.
“It’s not good enough. It’s not acceptable. They’re professional players. That’s not acceptable.”
Bradley’s job was the subject of much speculation during the season, but he was defiant and stuck it out, finishing third and sealing European football. But, he says that was not an achievement.
SLIGO ROVERS SHAMROCK ROVERS
SLIGO Rovers finished a disastrous season in style on Friday night as they defeated Shamrock Rovers 2-0 at The Showgrounds on the last day of the season.
Mikey Drennan’s bicycle kick in the first-half opened the scoring with John Mahon’s second-half header giving Brian Dorrian’s side all three points.
Dorrian took charge of his last game of the season after Gerard Lyttle left two weeks ago, and he was determined to see his side take something from this game to finish the season on a positive note.
Liam Buckley was announced as the club’s new manager earlier on the day, and he sat in the stands to watch his new side for the third consecutive game.
The Hoops had already secured a third place finish, but Rovers could still move up to 7th and overtake Derry City after the Candystripes’ defeat to Bray Wanderers last week, couple with Rovers’ point over Bohs.
It was the Dubliners, however, who got off to the better start on Friday night. Gary Shaw broke down the left hand side and forced Mitchell Beeney into his first save of the night with just three minutes on the clock, before Dan Carr’s shot was deflected wide by John Mahon and Dylan Watts’ dangerous drive smacked the crossbar.
The hosts started to threaten Alan Mannus’ goal and were beginning to take control of proceedings when Mikey Drennan made it 1-0 to Rovers.
With his back to goal, Drennan got enough height to meet David Cawley’s ball from the left, and his overheard kick caught Mannus off-guard, giving the Bit O’Red a precious lead.
Brian Dorrian’s side were well on top after the restart, and picked up in the second-half where they left off in the first.
Adam Wixted’s free from the right was nodded in by local boy John Mahon, capping off an ex-
Performance was ‘unacceptable’ says Hoops boss Bradley
cellent season for the 19-year-old.
In truth, it was game over at this point, but Stephen Bradley’s side did try and make the scoreline more flattering in their favour.
Beeney had to force away a Watts free before Joel Coustrain’s close range effort just trickled wide of Beeney’s post.
That result earned Rovers a 7th place finish, as Derry City suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of St. Patrick’s Athletic.
Sligo Rovers: Mitchell Beeney; Kyle Callan-McFadden (Adam Wixted, 46) Seamus Sharkey, John Mahon, Patrick McClean; Liam Kerrigan, Niall Morahan (Lewis Morrison, 92), David Cawley (Kris Twardek, 75), Jack Keaney; Mikey Drennan, Caolan McAleer.
Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus; Ethan Boyle (Sean Kavanagh, 50), Lee Grace, Joey O’Brien, Sam Bone; Brandon Miele, Greg Bolger, Dylan Watts, Ronan Finn, Dan Carr; Gary Shaw (Sean Boyd, 66).
Referee: Neil Doyle.