Shamrock Rovers welcome timely return of Jack Byrne and Neil Farrugia but midfielder faces spell on sidelines
Dylan Watts shipped a hamstring injury in last night's 1-1 draw at Bohemians and Darragh Burns has to be assessed
Stephen Bradley admits it is a major boost to have Jack Byrne and Neil Farrugia back in action after lengthy injuries.
But Dylan Watts is facing a spell on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring strain in last night’s 1-1 draw at Bohemians, while Darragh Burns also limped off.
Playmaker Byrne was making his first appearance of the season - and his first since September - off the bench in the late stages at Dalymount Park.
He had knee surgery towards the end of last season and then suffered a calf injury during pre-season that set him back.
Bradley doesn’t know when Byrne will be ready to start a game, but doesn’t feel he is too far away from making a real impact.
“It was good to get them on, especially Jack,” said the Hoops boss. “He's been out a long time and then nearly came back and had a little setback.
“It's great to have him on the pitch. He felt good and had no issues afterwards.”
Quizzed on when Byrne might start, Bradley said: “It's going to depend on his lungs and match fitness.
“It's different training and running to playing out there and playing 90 minutes at intensity. It's completely different and only time will tell.
“We’ll try and build him up over the next few weeks and thankfully we have a lot of games which allows us to do that.
“Hopefully on Monday against Waterford we can get more minutes into him and keep building him and as soon as he's ready, he plays.”
Byrne’s pre-season injury stumped Rovers and they sent Byrne for all sorts of assessments to get to the bottom of the problem.
“It came from his back down to his knee and calf.,” added Bradley.
“We had him everywhere - at the main specialist in Europe, we had him in London, had him everywhere at different clubs just trying to get to the bottom of it.
“It looks like we're there now and it's just about getting him back up and ready to go. It's a long season and it's only early so we'll take our time building him.”
Farrugia also made a welcomed return off the bench in the latter stages, his first appearance since dislocating his shoulder on the opening night of the season.
But central midfielder Watts was forced off and Bradley admits he will be facing a spell on the sidelines.
“Dylan looks like a hamstring.,” he said. “We have been worried about Dylan for a few weeks as he has played nearly every minute.
“We were looking for opportunities to take him out and took him out early on Monday against Drogheda.
“As a staff, he was the one we flagged about 10 days ago that was in the red zone, in real danger.
“But with the (injury list) the way they were, he's been playing and unfortunately it's gone but hopefully it’s not too bad.”
Bradley was disappointed not to leave Dalymount Park with all three points after Johnny Kenny pounced before half-time to cancel out Filip Piszczek’s opener.
“We reduced them to nothing and dominated the game in the second-half, which was really pleasing,” he added.
“First-half, the spaces were there but we just didn't see them and it became a bit of a basketball game which (Bohs) like.
“But in the second-half we completely took that away from them and controlled the game. But we’re frustrated we didn’t win.”
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