STEPHEN BRADLEY WAS making no excuses as Shamrock Rovers missed out on qualification for the league phase of the Uefa Conference League.
A 1-0 defeat in the second leg of their playoff with Finnish champions KuPS brought an end to a European campaign that the Hoops manager admitted was blighted by errors.
Bradley said they have been the type of mistakes a side with as much experience as his simply shouldn’t be making, and accepted that Graham Burke’s own goal was symptomatic of the failings this summer.
This would have been the club’s third league phase in a row but the Rovers boss wasn’t buying into the notion that their intense schedule over the last few years could have played a part in the concentration levels slipping at key moments.
Shamrock Rovers' Enda Stevens (left) and Pico Lopes after their side concedes the only goal of the match. Mika Kylmaniemi Kuvien / INPHO
Mika Kylmaniemi Kuvien / INPHO / INPHO
“I understand the discussion around that. Does it have some merits as a whole? We’ve been doing this for a long time, straight through, played a lot of games. But in terms of that being the factor of a European away performance and the goals, we’ve given up, no,” he said.
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“Because how can you perform at home and not perform away? It’s definitely not that. There’s definitely something to be looked at in terms of… We’ve done this now quite a long time, where we’ve had probably two and a half weeks off and then 13 days pre-season and into the season.
“We’ve done that now the last two or three years. That will be something that obviously the players will have a chance now at the end of the season to refresh. But definitely that is not the sole reason for any performances or the goals we’ve given up in Europe.”
Dejected Shamrock Rovers players at full time. Mika Kylmaniemi / INPHO
Mika Kylmaniemi / INPHO / INPHO
Burke headed into his own net with a quarter of an hour remaining in what was a chaotic moment at a time when the game was in the balance.
“It sums up the goals we’ve been giving away. You know what I feel on Graham as a player and as a person. That doesn’t change because he’s scored an own goal. He’s unfortunate. It hits him on the head, it goes in. But again, it probably typifies the goals that we’ve been giving up as a group, not just Graham. As a group, we’ve given up too many soft goals in our European campaign, and ultimately it’s cost us,” Bradley said.
“Usually that’s a team that is starting out on their European journey that makes mistakes like that, not a team that has played in a lot of big games in Europe. It’s frustrating.
“But unfortunately, this year, you look at our games, we’ve given up too many soft goals. It’s difficult to qualify for group stages when you do that. Unfortunately, we did that quite a bit this year.”
The contrasting emotions at the end of the game. Mika Kylmaniemi / INPHO
Mika Kylmaniemi / INPHO / INPHO
Bradley felt “the game was exactly where we wanted it” when the sides were level heading in to the last 15 minutes. “There was no danger. We’d hurt their momentum, it was fine. Then we were bringing on Graham and Jack [Byrne], our more attacking players, to go and try to influence the game in a positive way. Like you say, it was heading to extra time until we gave away a poor goal.”
Rovers will return to Dublin and quickly turn their attentions to a Premier Division title race that might just have a final twist during the last couple of months. The Hoops are four points clear of St Patrick’s Athletic and face Derry City away on Sunday before the visit of Shelbourne the following Friday for the champions’ game in hand.
The lay of the land will be a lot clearer after that and Bradley is adamant their European exit will not have an effect on their domestic challenge.
“It won’t. We’ll be ready. We’ve been here before and have qualified for groups quite a number of times, we haven’t qualified quite a number of times. We understand this is disappointing, obviously, but we will be ready to go for Sunday.
“This is a special group. We’ve been doing what we’ve been doing domestically and in Europe, they are a special group of people. We are all in it together. We lost tonight, we haven’t done enough this year to get to the group stages.
“We need to learn from it and understand it, but they are a special group that have been excellent and will continue to be. It just wasn’t to be this time in Europe.”
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Stephen Bradley makes no excuses for Euro exit: 'We've given up too many soft goals'
STEPHEN BRADLEY WAS making no excuses as Shamrock Rovers missed out on qualification for the league phase of the Uefa Conference League.
A 1-0 defeat in the second leg of their playoff with Finnish champions KuPS brought an end to a European campaign that the Hoops manager admitted was blighted by errors.
Bradley said they have been the type of mistakes a side with as much experience as his simply shouldn’t be making, and accepted that Graham Burke’s own goal was symptomatic of the failings this summer.
This would have been the club’s third league phase in a row but the Rovers boss wasn’t buying into the notion that their intense schedule over the last few years could have played a part in the concentration levels slipping at key moments.
“I understand the discussion around that. Does it have some merits as a whole? We’ve been doing this for a long time, straight through, played a lot of games. But in terms of that being the factor of a European away performance and the goals, we’ve given up, no,” he said.
“Because how can you perform at home and not perform away? It’s definitely not that. There’s definitely something to be looked at in terms of… We’ve done this now quite a long time, where we’ve had probably two and a half weeks off and then 13 days pre-season and into the season.
“We’ve done that now the last two or three years. That will be something that obviously the players will have a chance now at the end of the season to refresh. But definitely that is not the sole reason for any performances or the goals we’ve given up in Europe.”
Burke headed into his own net with a quarter of an hour remaining in what was a chaotic moment at a time when the game was in the balance.
“It sums up the goals we’ve been giving away. You know what I feel on Graham as a player and as a person. That doesn’t change because he’s scored an own goal. He’s unfortunate. It hits him on the head, it goes in. But again, it probably typifies the goals that we’ve been giving up as a group, not just Graham. As a group, we’ve given up too many soft goals in our European campaign, and ultimately it’s cost us,” Bradley said.
“Usually that’s a team that is starting out on their European journey that makes mistakes like that, not a team that has played in a lot of big games in Europe. It’s frustrating.
“But unfortunately, this year, you look at our games, we’ve given up too many soft goals. It’s difficult to qualify for group stages when you do that. Unfortunately, we did that quite a bit this year.”
Bradley felt “the game was exactly where we wanted it” when the sides were level heading in to the last 15 minutes. “There was no danger. We’d hurt their momentum, it was fine. Then we were bringing on Graham and Jack [Byrne], our more attacking players, to go and try to influence the game in a positive way. Like you say, it was heading to extra time until we gave away a poor goal.”
Rovers will return to Dublin and quickly turn their attentions to a Premier Division title race that might just have a final twist during the last couple of months. The Hoops are four points clear of St Patrick’s Athletic and face Derry City away on Sunday before the visit of Shelbourne the following Friday for the champions’ game in hand.
The lay of the land will be a lot clearer after that and Bradley is adamant their European exit will not have an effect on their domestic challenge.
“It won’t. We’ll be ready. We’ve been here before and have qualified for groups quite a number of times, we haven’t qualified quite a number of times. We understand this is disappointing, obviously, but we will be ready to go for Sunday.
“This is a special group. We’ve been doing what we’ve been doing domestically and in Europe, they are a special group of people. We are all in it together. We lost tonight, we haven’t done enough this year to get to the group stages.
“We need to learn from it and understand it, but they are a special group that have been excellent and will continue to be. It just wasn’t to be this time in Europe.”
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