HISTORY IS ALL that matters for Shamrock Rovers now.
Completing the four-in-a-row of Premier Division titles by any means necessary is the name of the game.
It’s kind of felt that way since they began this campaign with five draws and one defeat from their opening six games.
Matching the feat of the Rovers teams from 1984-87 is the carrott at the end of a season that has seen the current crop receive plenty of stick.
Friday’s 0-0 draw with UCD – a result that confirmed the Students’ relegation – seemed like another momentum killer a week after showing their mettle to nab an 85th-minute equaliser away to Derry City.
Graham Burke’s penalty prevented the Candystripes closing the gap to a single point so, even with the disappointing UCD stalemate, Rovers still managed to extend their lead over a Ruaidhri Higgins side that just hasn’t been capable of taking advantage when the door was left ajar by the champions.
“Five points with five games to go, we’ll take that,” head coach Stephen Bradley said on Friday night. “We just need to look at what we did [against UCD] and what we can do better to win that game.
“We wanted to win it and we did everything possible to win it but we wake up a point better off in the lead with five games to go. If you said to me at the start of the year that would be the case, I’d have taken that all day long.”
Bradley might have been thinking somewhat differently when Rovers strung six consecutive wins together from 21 April to 15 May – beating St Patrick’s Athletic twice, Derry City and Bohemians during that period.
The sense was Bradley’s men had found the same kind of groove that made them dominant over the previous three years.
A sense of control and ruthless kind of devotion to their principles, not to mention ability to produce crucial late goals, set them apart from the rest on the domestic front.
Then Rovers lost 3-2 at home to part-time Drogheda United and had three men sent off in a bizarre 1-0 away defeat to Cork City at the end of May.
Everything felt loose, although four wins and a draw from their next five fixtures showed they were still capable of re-establishing confidence at the top.
The early challenge of Bohs under new boss Declan Devine slowly wilted. Nine wins and a draw from their opening 13 games has been followed by just four victories since 1 May. A day later, St Pat’s parted company with Tim Clancy.
His former assistant, Jon Daly, turned things around quickly to get the job on a permanent basis, and if the Saints beat Drogheda at Richmond Park tomorrow night they will move to within three points of the Hoops and be their closest challengers in second place with five games remaining.
The reason for that is as much down to Rovers’ inability to put together another consistent run to kill off the lingering hopes of their rivals.
Over the last three months – with a disappointing European campaign during the summer – they have won just three times.
Shelbourne, on the other hand, have won their last three and lost just once in 13. Damien Duff has primed his team for a surge and also been infused with what he described as “elite players in this league” following the loan arrivals of Will Jarvis and Harry Wood, a benefit of now belonging to a multi-club model with Hull City.
Shels visit Bohs at Dalymount Park tomorrow knowing a fourth consecutive win will edge them four points clear of their north Dublin rivals – although the Gypsies also have a FAI Cup semi-final away with First Division champions Galway United on the horizon.
Shels travel to Tallaght Stadium next Friday and a quirk of the fixture schedule means Bradley’s side don’t play again for almost a month, when Drogheda are the visitors on 20 October.
History is still on the line for Rovers.
