Stephen Bradley saluted his Shamrock Rovers players’ character in simply wanting to keep on winning.
Dylan Watts’ wonderful free-kick goal marked a fitting way for Rovers to end their title wait as they beat Galway United 1-0 at Tallaght Stadium on Wednesday night.
[ How Shamrock Rovers won the titleOpens in new window ]
A first win in four league games finally sealed a fifth League of Ireland championship in six years – the champagne having been on ice since a 2-1 win over arch-rivals Bohemians on September 26th tagged them as champions-elect.
A winner in stoppage time from Derry City’s Michael Duffy against Sligo Rovers, minutes before Rovers went on to beat Kerry in their FAI Cup semi-final, first delayed the celebrations.
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Three subsequent defeats – first to outgoing champions Shelbourne and then to St Patrick’s Athletic and Derry – added to the suspense.
“It has to be right up there because it takes talent to win,” said Rovers head coach Bradley of his latest title success, adding: “It takes character to keep winning and these players have shown that.”
Bradley made quips about finally being able to enjoy a glass or two of his favoured red wine, having abstained for some two months as he prepared to run last Sunday’s Dublin marathon for charity, before taking a helicopter ride to Derry for the game at the Brandywell.
Following their well-deserved celebrations there is no let up in Rovers’ itinerary.
They finish their league season with a home game versus Sligo on Saturday, after which they will be presented with their record-extending 22nd League of Ireland Championship trophy.
Then it’s on to Athens to meet AEK in the Conference League before a swift return for the FAI Cup final against Cork City on Sunday week and a shot at completing a double not achieved by the club since 1987.
“I’m just happy to get it done,” said 40-year-old Bradley. “We’ve known in the dressingroom for some time it’s been done and I think that’s been the little edge that’s come off. You could feel it a little bit.
“I think the annoyance then came when we lost the three, you could feel it in Derry and the players were annoyed, we were all annoyed about it.
“It’s important just to get it done. We felt some weeks back it was more or less done and I think, like I said, we lost that little bit of edge. So it’s just nice to get it done and get it out of the way.”
Having shouldered the blame personally for relinquishing their title to Shelbourne on the last day last year to miss out on a historic five-in-a-row, Bradley added that that hurt spurred him, his staff and players on this season.
“I think it shows incredible character from the group to lose like we lost last year and come back and win it so convincingly this year.
“The last few weeks we’ve been slightly off it, but until that point the players have been in a different class so this one’s right up there.
“It’s when sometimes you’re in that rhythm of winning you roll and you roll, but then when you lose it can really knock you and we’ve seen teams win one and fall away, win two and fall away.
“To go four, lose it within five minutes, and then come back the next year and go and do what they’ve done is pretty special.“
And the hunger for success continues.
“As I said to the players our aim is to win a domestic double. That was our aim from the first day of preseason.
“Do that and go where we did in Europe last year. We’ve ticked off one of them and I believe we can do the other two, so it’s there for us.
“We have to enjoy [Wednesday night], we have to enjoy Saturday, the celebration.
“But we also have to understand that [next] Thursday and Sunday are huge for us.“
