Hoops to embrace chase of 95-year double record

A TOUCHLINE ban means he will not be at the heart of the action but Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley has told his players to embrace and not endure the challenge of completing a truly historic league and cup double next weekend.

Already crowned the league champions, the Hoops eased into the FAI Cup final with a 2-0 win at home to Sligo Rovers yesterday, a goal at either end of the first half from Aaron McEneff enough to win it for the Tallaght side.

A goal on four minutes, cheaply conceded from a Sligo point of view as they failed to mark McEneff from a Jack Byrne corner, had Bradley’s side in control and after Sligo failed to make anything from a decent spell late in the first half, a second strike from McEneff just before the break had the game, and the Hoops’ progress to the final, sewn up.

Sligo boss Liam Buckley admitted that his side had made it all too easy for the league champions with the concession of a “stupid goal” so early, as their season ended with a whimper on the field, albeit with the comfort of European qualification.

The home side had problems prematch, with manager Bradley serving the second of a three-game touchline ban which also rules him out of next Sunday’s final, while on the eve of the game came word, via the HSE, that defender Roberto Lopes, who was due to start this semi-final, had to quarantine due to a Covid-19 issue from one of the flights he took on a recent spell of international duty with Cape Verde Islands.

But the relative ease of their win, with the added bonus of a return from injury for Greg Bolger after a four-month absence due to a broken leg, made it a memorable day from a game to forget. And for Bradley, the challenge now is to make even more history by securing a historic double.

“I think we’ve got to enjoy that and embrace it, like we did last year in the final,” he said. “I think the last time an unbeaten double was done was back in 1925, and we’ve got a chance to do that next week, which would be an unbelievable achievement.

“They know all about that, we’ve spoken about it and it’s something that we can do next week. You’ve got to embrace that and enjoy it.”

SHAMROCK ROVERS – Mannus; Grace, Scales, O’Brien; Marshall, McEneff, Finn (Nugent 88), S Kavanagh (Lafferty 75); Watts (Bolger 75), Byrne (Farrugia 75); Burke (Williams 82).

SLIGO ROVERS – McGinty; Banks, Mahon, Buckley, Donelon; Devers (Cooper 46), Cawley (Kane 74), Morohan (Noone 68), Junior; De Vries (Seymore 68); Coughlan.

REF – P McLaughlin.