Uefa Conference League knockout round, 2nd leg: Shamrock Rovers (1) v Molde (0), Tallaght Stadium, Thursday, 7.45 – Live on Premier Sports 1 & TNT Sports 2
Holding court on the eve of Shamrock Rovers' latest European breakthrough or bust moment, Stephen Bradley rarely disappoints.
Against the odds and a Molde team that is estimated to be worth €20 million more than Rovers, and with a spate of injuries inviting the Norwegians to play them off the park, Bradley was confidence personified.
Rovers have a 1-0 lead from the first leg but without a hamstrung Danny Mandroiu and the suspended Dylan Watts and Dan Cleary, they are bound to struggle in their third match in seven days, with a fourth in 10 days against Cork City to follow.
“They are big players but we said that we’ll need everyone and we will,” said Bradley. “We are missing bodies, if you want to go into it, it’s madness that we played in Molde [last Thursday] and [Bohemians on] Sunday.”
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The “madness” comment is directed towards the FAI.
“I don’t think there’s any other league in the world that comes back after preseason, plays a European game and a league game within three days.
“We do it for some strange reason and as a result players get injured and I have to get on with it. But you are demanding an awful lot of these players to do that after being off for four weeks. The result is player welfare, you are going to get injuries and we have injuries.”
The Hoops are suffering from the lack of a proper off-season due to this 16-match European run that has yielded almost €7 million in prize money.
Long-term injuries to Rory Gaffney and Jack Byrne have prompted Bradley to put his trust in 16-year-old duo Michael Noonan and Victor Ozhianvuna.
Noonan should start his third straight game while Ozhianvuna can come off the bench as he did so effectively against Bohemians at the Aviva Stadium last Sunday. The wonder is whether Noonan can have a similar impact as he did when scoring the winner in Norway last week after clocking up 172 minutes against Molde and Bohs.
“If you can’t at 16! There are going to be times when I have to take him out, leave him out and protect him. But right now that mental and physical fatigue hasn’t set in. He’s still fresh in his mind and body,” said Bradley.
Molde are without Valdemar Lund as the Danish under-21 defender was sent off for denying Noonan a clear run on goal last week and they remain undercooked with the Norway league not starting for another fortnight.
Tallaght Stadium is a 9,500 sell-out and the winners face either Cercle Brugge or Legia Warsaw, after Friday’s draw, in a two-legged knock-out match worth €1.3 million.
Heimir Hallgrímsson will not be attending after a barrage of criticism was directed at the Republic of Ireland manager by Bradley, following comments the Icelander made about Rovers' European success putting their players in the shop window for a “career change” by securing a move abroad.
“We have got an international manager telling my players to leave to have a chance to play for Ireland,” Bradley said. “That’s incredibly disrespectful to me and everyone who works every day in this league.”
Hallgrímsson’s comments might have impacted the decisions of Darragh Burns and Neil Farrugia to leave Rovers for Grimsby Town and Barnsley respectively last month. Burns and Farrugia were offered similar salaries to what they are now being paid in England.
“Imagine you are an agent sitting there with your player, ‘You can stay here but if you go [abroad] you have a chance of getting into the international squad.’”
Josh Honohan could conceivably be called into Hallgrímsson’s squad to face Bulgaria next month. The versatile Cork defender will continue his outstanding few months at left wing back with Danny Grant on the right.
Matthew Healy will be asked to replicate Watts, who has been the outstanding midfielder in Ireland for the past year. Healy did not make an impact at Ipswich Town before a move to Belgium led the 22-year-old to Rovers.
“Matt has a really high ceiling,” said Bradley. “His level of football IQ for someone so young is really high. He covered a lot of ground in Molde, 12 or 13 kilometres and he still wanted to play on Sunday.
“His passing ability is up there with the best we’ve had and he scores goals. He is a bit of a throw back, he can go box to box, bit of a six, bit of an eight. There is so much more about him, physically and mentally. We are very lucky to have him here.”
