RONAN FINN HAS warned his Shamrock Rovers teammates that they are not good enough to look beyond tonight’s away trip to face Drogheda United.
The Hoops face Breiðablik in the first leg of their first-round Champions League qualifier on Tuesday and the Rovers captain has stressed the importance of maintaining their four-point lead at the top of the Premier Division.
Drogheda have already beaten the reigning champions 2-1 at Tallaght Stadium while they drew 1-1 in Louth in the second game of this season.
“If we don’t go up, don’t do our homework and don’t treat them with respect, we will be punished. We are not that good, and I don’t think anyone is that bad [that we can just turn up in a place and expect to win],” Finn said.
We have to show up everywhere and Drogheda are no different. We have to show up. We have to be professional and Tuesday’s Champions League game cannot even be in the reckoning.
“I wouldn’t say they (Drogheda) are our bogey team. If we hit the standards we expect and we don’t win, some days you have to accept that but more often than not we feel that if we hit our standards, stay to our principles, then the outcome will look after itself. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn’t. You have to still do the right things.
“It is so important,” Finn continued. “Once that develops into your game, you start taking your eye off the ball, then maybe looking at a game down the track, and you think, ‘right we will beat these and then roll into that match’, look, I just don’t think that attitude works.
“Throughout my career, the way this league is, every team can beat everybody. That is certainly the case this season. There is definitely a competitive edge amongst everybody in the league.”
The 35-year-old is the oldest outfielder in the Rovers squad and a stellar career has seen the Dubliner embark on three European group stage campaigns. The midfielder, a convert to right wing back in Stephen Bradley’s system, played in the Europa League in 2011 and 2016, with Rovers and Dundalk, respectively.
Last season’s Europa Conference League group stages also saw Finn amass 59 appearances in European competitions but he admits domestic matters remain the priority as they prepare for the run-in to clinch a fourth league title in a row.
“It was a bit unfortunate in the fact the league was to tight at home,” he said. “You would have loved to have been able to focus on just the European games but there were games when we had Molde away and then Shels at home. It was hard for the manager and hard for the group.
We know the be-all and end-all has to be us winning the league. We would love to be in a position to win the league.
“I still felt we played quite well in the European campaign, looking back on it, I am sure the manager would have liked a few more bodies to help the squad because we were stretched at times, with injuries and maybe a suspension.
“In the off season we recruited really well and got a good core of players here, it is an experienced group here, with a lot of league winners and internationals. This will help us but it will only help us if our league form is on it as well.
“You feel the buzz around Europe, as there is an edge, additional media and TV. Europa League or Europa Conference League should be attainable for the League of Ireland champions.”
