STEPHEN BRADLEY insists he will not allow any complacency to set in after Shamrock Rovers won the Premier Divison title for the second year running on Friday night.
The 36-year-old had little time to reflect on his latest success before talk inevitably turned to next season.
Rovers are currently 13 points ahead of nearest rivals St Patrick’s Athletic and comfortably wrapped up the title against Finn Harps with three games to spare.
Yet Bradley believes there are plenty of sides with the potential to challenge for the league next season.
“Derry are going to invest heavily. Dundalk’s takeover. Pat’s will go again. I don’t think Sligo are a million miles away, I’ve said that a few times. I think this group deserves tremendous respect because mid-season everyone was saying ‘three-way challenge’ and they’ve just gone and taken it.”
Asked whether his side could maintain their hunger and possibly dominate for years to come in a similar manner to Stephen Kenny’s Dundalk side before them, Bradley responded: “I’m not sure about years to come because football can change so quickly but if anyone loses their hunger, they’re gone, it’s as simple as that. That’s me, the staff, the players, that’s what we created and if you get a little inkling someone is losing that hunger or will to win and show up every day, then they’re not for us and that goes right across the board. That’s the standards they have to set themselves and that’s what we will adhere to going forward.”
The Hoops lost key players in Jack Byrne and Aaron McEneff following their title success last year, but Bradley is hopeful the club can avoid a repeat scenario this time around.
“I think everyone is under contract, there are no issues that way, Liam [Scales] was the one we lost mid-season and thankfully we got Barry [Cotter] and he hit the ground running and was very, very good. I don’t see anyone moving in the off-season. I think this will be the first year we have going into the next year with the same group and obviously trying to add to it as well and that will definitely benefit us next year.”
And are there any areas in which Rovers plan to strengthen?
“I’ve said from the start we don’t rely on one player like a Patrick Hoban, like a Georgie Kelly or whoever else has scored the goals because when they dry up, you can very quickly struggle. We’ve always worried about the collective and that will be the same next year. Can we add goals within the team or also with the players we bring in? We want to score more and concede less and hopefully, that brings more wins and fewer losses.”
