Well, they’ve finally done it. With one game remaining in the season, Shamrock Rovers have sealed the Premier Division title with a win at home to Galway United.
Requiring just a single point to put themselves beyond the reach of Derry City, Wednesday’s 1-0 result at Tallaght Stadium – courtesy of a 75th-minute goal from Dylan Watts – ended Rovers’ agonising wait to reclaim their spot as champions of the league.
Stephen Bradley has Rovers operating on a higher plain to any other club in the history of Irish football.
“I want to win the league, I want to win the cup,” he said repeatedly this season. “And I want to do what we did last year in Europe. That’s our aim.”
RM Block
Capturing a fifth League of Ireland title in six seasons, while still competitive in Europe and ahead of the FAI Cup final against Cork City on Sunday week, has a lot to do with minority shareholder Dermot Desmond’s unwavering support of the manager, particularly when factions on the board sought his removal.
Throughout Rovers’ unparalleled success in the 2020s, Bradley has had opportunities to expand his career abroad, but the 40-year-old’s primary focus has been the wellbeing of his young son Josh, who recently got the all-clear from cancer.
After 10 seasons in charge, the next challenge for Rovers is keeping Bradley in Tallaght.
If the Republic of Ireland’s downward trajectory under Heimir Hallgrímsson continues, the FAI’s new director of football John Martin could, in quick time, complete a recruitment process to replace the Icelander with Bradley for the Euro 2028 campaign.
Until recently, Martin was Rovers’ chief executive and Shane Robinson, his number two in the FAI, headed up the club academy for nine years.
The Hoops takeover of Abbotstown would be complete by Bradley insisting on including his assistant coach Glenn Cronin, and even Rovers sporting director Stephen McPhail, on the Ireland ticket.
As Rovers stumbled through October – losing to Sparta Prague, Shelbourne, St Patrick’s Athletic, Slovenia’s Celje and Derry City – a previously unthinkable collapse began to take shape.
“No, we’re fine,” said Bradley after the 1-0 loss to St Pat’s on October 17th. “We’re in a good place.”
That night, despite the defeat, the Rovers dressingroom was in celebratory mood as hours earlier Pico and Leah Lopes had their first child, Diego.
The club captain had just rushed home after helping Cape Verde qualify for the World Cup before he hightailed it from the maternity ward to Richmond Park where Bradley decided to put fatherhood over football.
“They’re waiting nine months on a baby, and he’s frustrated, I said: ‘It’s coming, relax.’ It’s the exact same [with the league title], it’s coming.’”
Lopes turned up in Inchicore before half-time, ready to play but the manager was not for turning. “I knew that he hadn’t slept or eaten and combine that with the week he had, it just wouldn’t have been right to go and ask him to play.”
Despite Lopes’s return, they looked flat in the 2-1 loss to Derry City at the Brandywell last Sunday. Bradley remained a picture of calm, brushing off the suggestion that mental and physical fatigue had gripped his players. Rovers have been so dominant this season that only a point was needed at home to Galway United on Wednesday night to secure the title.
One of the reasons they won back the league from Shelbourne is down to Bradley’s staff designing a curtailed preseason due to their 17-match European campaign from July 2024 to February 2025. The approach was “20-something” training matches, instead of preseason friendlies, leading into the 1-0 loss to Bohemians before a record league attendance of 33,208 at the Aviva Stadium on February 16th.
The overlapping seasons saw 16-year-olds Michael Noonan and Victor Ozhianvuna promoted to the first team as Rory Gaffney and Jack Byrne were injured, while Neil Farrugia signed for Barnsley, Johnny Kenny returned to Celtic and Darragh Burns joined Grimsby Town.
Bradley and McPhail were forced to improve the playing panel by signing midfielder Matt Healy and goalkeeper Ed McGinty from Sligo Rovers.
Four days after Bohs beat Rovers at the Aviva, Molde of Norway knocked them out of the 2024/25 Conference League.
In response, they went seven games unbeaten until a 3-2 Easter Monday loss, again to Bohs, that will be remembered for Noonan’s 60-metre dribble and finish before the teenager disappeared into a haze of green smoke rolling off the south stand.
“The goal had a bit of everything – pace, power and quality at the end,” said Bradley. “He’s 16, we need to mind him, but he has an elite mentality.”
Another key moment was the Lopes slide tackle on Warren Davis to deny Drogheda United a certain equaliser on August 31st.
The skipper’s last-gasp intervention cannot be overstated. Three days earlier Rovers created headlines across Europe by overcoming Santa Clara. The enormity of an Irish club denying a Portuguese side a place in the Uefa Conference League cannot be exaggerated but beating Drogheda was clear indication of progress.
In 2022, Bradley rested key players in Europe to ensure that Derry City did not deny them a league title. Last year, Shelbourne did just that. This time around, the Rovers squad was strengthened to compete on two fronts.
Another key factor was Gaffney’s return from a year-long injury. The Tuam native turned down a better paid, two-year contract elsewhere to sign a one-year extension before scoring 12 goals while providing Noonan with a weekly tutorial in centre forward play.
Healy’s presence at the base of midfield alongside the creativity of Danny Mandroiu and Graham Burke meant that Byrne’s dramatic departure from the club in August went unnoticed on the pitch.
“Matt’s passing ability is up there with the best we’ve had,” said Bradley.
Byrne is probably the best passing midfielder to ever grace the league but a disagreement with the coaching staff saw the Ireland international loaned to a semi-professional outfit in Dubai.
Rovers also had the excellence of Josh Honohan down the left and the shot-stopping of McGinty.
Like any generationally-dominant team, Bradley and Rovers are constantly searching for more success, more medals. The double can be completed by overcoming Cork City at the Aviva Stadium on November 9th.
