GRAHAM BURKE GOT the headlines with a hat-trick but Stephen Bradley reckons Rory Gaffney’s influence helped Shamrock Rovers blow Sligo Rovers away in “frightening” fashion last night.
The 3-1 victory, courtesy of Burke’s treble in the space of 15 second-half minutes, combined with Derry Cit’sy stalemate at home to St Patrick’s Athletic, saw the champions return to the top of the Premier Division.
They hold a one-point lead as the top two prepare to meet at Tallaght Stadium this Friday and Bradley gambled with his selection from the start against the Bit O’Red.
Rovers made seven changes to the starting XI from the side that breezed past Finn Harps a few days previously. With one eye on the Candystripes coming to Dublin, the Hoops boss attempted to freshen things up.
It didn’t work for the first 45 minutes and it was only when four substitutes were introduced at half-time that they clicked into gear.
Burke and Gaffney were two of those sprung from the bench, along with central midfielder Chris McCann and Ireland Under-21 international Andy Lyons.
Gaffney’s turn of pace and determination to chase down what looked like a lost cause led to Rovers doubling their lead in the 56th minute, just over 60 seconds after Burke had slotted home his first, and Bradley reckoned that attitude changed the dynamics of the game.
“That summed up the difference between the first and second halves. In the first half we were slow in everything we did, getting up the pitch, pressing, in possession , our decision making – you could go on and on,” he began.
“In the second half the levels were frightening. You make seven or eight changes so you are not going to have the rhythm that you have with a settled XI. I think that’s quite obvious but you can still play with our energy levels and tempo , aggression. They were not there.
“I do accept that, when you make that many changes, your rhythm goes but we were still miles off.
The quartet who came in were brilliant, Chris McCann settled us, Rory was outstanding up top, Graham gets his hat-trick and Andy Lyons wins the ball back for our third goal.
“All four of them had an impact. But in the first half we were really off it, it was really disappointing . But the second half was more like us,” Bradley added, accepting his side were fortunate to make it into the interval without conceding.
“We were probably lucky after the first half to be level , I thought that we were really poor. They probably should have been a goal or two up. We were slow and sloppy and really negative in our play.
“In the second half we were a lot better, we played with more tempo and more aggression and deserved to win.”
