SMASH BURNS
Bradley backs Darragh to shine
JEERS from a large home crowd? That won’t faze Darragh Burns, says Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley.
He expects the on-loan star to face an “interesting reception” at Richmond Park tonight.
But he has backed the youngster to take the attention from fans of his former club in his stride – in the same way that he has dealt with the demands of life at the five-in-a-row chasing side.
Burns, who left St Patrick’s Athletic for MK Dons in July 2022, has already scored three goals in seven appearances for the Hoops.
His latest was a well-taken opener in Monday’s 2-1 win over Waterford, while he also found the net against Derry City and in last Friday’s derby win over Bohemians.
Not bad for a 21-year-old who has found himself in an unfamiliar right wing-back role at times this year.
“I’m sure they’ll give him an interesting reception,” said Bradley, ahead of Rovers’ latest Dublin derby, “but I think he is mature enough.
“He just gets on with it and it doesn’t faze him. He’ll be fine. I don’t think he’ll be fazed by anything, to be honest.”Product
Burns, a product of St Kevin’s Boys, joined St Pat’s in 2018 and slotted straight into their U-17 side, before progressing through the ranks.
He made his senior debut a year later in a friendly against Chelsea and made his competitive debut that September in the Leinster Senior Cup against Cabinteely.
Burns came off the bench to make his league debut against Derry City early in the following season, but his breakthrough campaign came in 2021.
It wasn’t long before cross-channel sides expressed an interest in the wide-man and in July 2022 he was on his way to MK Dons.
After making 22 appearances in all competitions during the 2022/23 season, he struggled to nail down a place in the current campaign.
But in his time so far with Rovers he has shown the kind of form that saw him light up the League of Ireland during his first stint here.
“I think with Darragh, you can see he is getting what we do now,” said Bradley, referring to the demands of his new role.
“He has it off to a tee now in terms of understanding when to run and when to stand, and where the spaces are.
“He is playing with real confidence and
belief and I think we all know when Darragh is playing like that he is a nightmare for other teams because he is so bright and direct.
“It was a great performance by Darragh against Waterford and it was a brilliant goal, nice and composed when he got in behind them and a great finish.”
Bradley reckons we could see the Ireland Under-21 international popping up all over the pitch this year with Rovers.
“I think he can play inside, he has done that and he finished the game in Waterford there I think he can play as a 10 or a centre-forward,” said the Hoops boss.
“I think he has that ability. But we know he can play off the right. He has done that all his career.
“So when we spoke to him, it was just about getting him to understand the system at the start, because we demand different things from different players in certain positions.
“But you can see now that he has it – whether that’s in as the 10 or at wing-back.
“I think he has already shown the reason why we wanted him before he (above)
went to MK and why we wanted him again now.
“I think he is in the right environment with the right people. We know he is a top player and he is showing that at the moment.”
Tricky
Bradley, meanwhile, was delighted to pick up six points from two tricky fixtures over the Easter weekend.
After another slow start to the season, Rovers have now won three on the bounce, including the Bohs and Waterford wins last Friday and Monday respectively.
They were the only team to pick up maximum points across the Easter fixtures and Bradley said: “It was nice, obviously, to go FridayMonday, with two difficult games, and get the two wins.
“The players are focused and they are in a good place. We just need to keep working hard and keep doing what we are doing, keep improving. “Hopefully over the next few weeks we get four or five of the bodies back that we are missing and they can make a big difference for us as well.” (below)