STEPHEN BRADLEY HAILED Gary O’Neill’s stunning late goal, which secured Shamrock Rovers a 3-1 win in the first leg of their Europa League third round qualifier against Shkupi of North Macedonia tonight.
Rovers led 2-0 at half-time but saw that lead halved by a stunning strike by Brazilian midfielder Queven, but Shkupi lost their momentum with a late red card, which meant the game ended in a Rovers onslaught. It looked like Rovers would be frustrated until O’Neill struck from the edge of the box with the game’s very final kick.
It means Rovers will take a two-goal advantage to Skopje next Tuesday, where victory would put them within one tie of the Europa League group phase while guaranteeing a spot in the group phase of the third-tier Conference League.
“Delighted, obviously, with the win and the three goals”, said Bradley, “but slight frustrated at parts of the performance as we were a little bit sloppy in parts and we let them get a foothold in the end. But delighted with the win and the goal at the end could be really important for us.
“We took our foot off when we had them, and that was frustrating. We should have went for them and we let them back in the game. They showed then in the second half, the Brazilian boy, he’s quality. It shows we have a right game next week.
“It could be huge”, continued Bradley on the difference between winning by two goals rather than one. “We saw that with Ludogorets, when we gave away the third goal. We still had to chase the game and they hurt us. It could be huge but what we do know after the second half is we will be in for a game.”
Bradley confirmed that man-of-the-match Chris McCann left the game with a calf injury, but expects that Jack Byrne will be available for the second leg.