BURKE ON HIS KNEES

Five star striker to miss top two clash

GOAL machine Graham Burke is out of Friday’s eagerly anticipated top-of-the-table clash between Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk.

And the Hoops ace could be sidelined for up to three weeks because of a nagging calf problem.

Ireland international Burke ran riot in last Friday’s demolition of sorry Cork City, scoring a remarkable five goals in the 6-0 rout.

But he missed Monday’s 2-0 win away to Waterford and Rovers boss Stephen Bradley revealed it wasn’t just a case of resting him with Friday in mind.

Bradley said: “No, he’ll be out on Friday. Graham got a knock on his calf against Cork and he’ll miss Friday and next week. It’ll be two or three weeks.”

New striker Rory

Gaffney will be available providing his international clearance comes through in time.

Signed from Salford City, Bradley said: “We’ll see if we get a certain amount of minutes out of him, or use him off the bench.

“He hasn’t played a lot of minutes and won’t be as sharp as our boys. But I played with him (at Limerick) and he’s quick, strong and scores goals.”

Bradley also admits Dylan Watts is posing selection headaches after an impressive start to the season despite starting just one of their three games.

The ex-leicester City and UCD midfielder started 25 league matches last season but was down the pecking order by the time of the FAI Cup final and was an unused sub.

But he has his hunger back and chipped in with two assists off the bench in that rout of Cork City and was then a standout in Waterford on Monday.

“He looks very bright in head,” said Bradley. “He’s fitter than he’s ever been.

“All of his numbers in pre-season were up from last year. He wasn’t as fit as he should have been last year.

“It was a bit of everything. He was going from part-time – on loan at Bohs – back into full-time. We had that conversation and he understands that.

“Dylan would be the first to tell you that it wasn’t quite right. Now it is and you can actually see it in his body, how he’s moving, that he’s stronger and fitter.”

On Friday, Rovers will be chasing a first Tallaght win over Dundalk in three years – but Bradley claims that stat distorts the true picture.

He said. “Last year we hit the his crossbar, had one cleared off the line and (Gary) Rogers should have been sent off.

“When you really look at the games and analyse them properly, there are small margins that decide big games.

“Even the heavy (5-2) defeat in Tallaght (in 2018), Ronan Finn and

Dan Carr got taken off injured at halftime but we should have been 2-0

up.

“There is very little in the games.”