Shamrock Rovers eager to make inroads on Derry City and Shelbourne
Shamrock Rovers host Galway United at Tallaght Stadium on Sunday, 7.00pm
Stephen Bradley knows Shamrock Rovers cannot afford any more slip ups.
The third-placed Hoops remain outsiders for the league title as they are 11-points adrift of new leaders Derry City, who are level on points with Shelbourne.
But on the back of their extended European run, the Hoops have three games in hand on Derry and two on Shels.
READ MORE:Derry City boss Ruaidhri Higgings delivers title assessment after going top
READ MORE: Draw sees Shelbourne leave Premier Division summit for the first time in 175 days
And Bradley wants to eat into their lead - starting tonight when Galway United visit Tallaght Stadium.
Rovers were stuffed 4-0 by Greek champions PAOK on Thursday, losing the first-leg of their Europa League playoff 4-0 ahead of next Thursday’s second leg.
But with Europa Conference League groups already secured, the league takes sharper focus once again.
Bradley said: “We move on. We’re not happy with the scoreline against PAOK, but you have to accept at that level you’ll get punished. So we move on quickly.
“Galway is another massive game for us, probably more important than last Thursday.
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“We know off the back of Celje away when we played Drogheda at home (1-1 draw), we were nowhere near good enough. We know we need to be a lot better tomorrow.”
Rovers beat Galway 1-0 at Eamonn Deacy Park in March before the Tribesmen drew 1-1 in Tallaght in April.
Bradley told the club website: “John Caulfield and Ollie Horgan have been around a long time. John has won everything domestically, he’s a clever man.
“His teams are always really well set up and clued into what they’re doing. We have to respect what Galway are good at. If we don’t, they’ll punish us.
“We found out against Galway in Tallaght the last time, if you’re not at it and give them opportunities, they’ll take them. Galway are having a brilliant season.”
Trevor Clarke is out with the ankle injury he shipped in Greece and Bradley added: “We don’t think anything is broken but we can’t be sure yet with the swelling.”
Striker Johnny Kenny is due to resume training on Wednesday but fellow attacker Rory Gaffney is still a month away.
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