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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Mark McCadden

Stephen Bradley's warning to Shamrock Rovers' title rivals

Stephen Bradley says the only way is up for his Dublin derby heroes.

The Hoops have kick-started their season with back-to-back wins away to Dundalk and Bohemians, scoring six goals in the process and bringing a six-game winless run crashing to a halt.

Despite their impressive recent performances, including a dominant second-half display against Bohs on Friday night, Bradley says there is more to come from his side.

“I think, genuinely, we’re only getting going. I think there is so much more to come from them,” he said.

“It’s hard to say exactly where, but we’re just getting going.

“How we trained in pre-season, how we trained is to be peaking in mid-season like we have done. I think that shows where we are and where we’re going.”

Rovers fans saw Ireland internationals Jack Byrne and Graham Burke turn on the style at Dalymount Park on Friday night.

Bradley was without the pair for significant chunks of last year.

This time around, however, they have enjoyed strong pre-seasons,

The Hoops boss said: “Last year, we tried to manage them to get through with the amount of games we had but this year, they’re on it, I think you can see that with both of them.

“They’re top players, they’re a joy to watch when they’re like that.”

Byrne’s set-piece deliveries were a huge factor in Friday’s win. One corner led to a Sean Hoare header cannoning back off the crossbar.

He teed up Neil Farrugia’s opener with a cross from open play and then floated in a second-half free-kick that Rory Gaffney converted at the back post.

“It’s a tremendous weapon. I think it’s a real hallmark of successful teams down the years,” said Bradley of Rovers’ dead-ball deliveries.

“If you look at them, they usually have four or five players on set-plays that are real dangers and we have that this year.

“With the delivery, whether it’s Jack, Dylan (Watts), Markus (Poom) or Justin (Ferizaj), it’s tremendous.”

As for goalscorer Farrugia’s performance, Bradley added: “Yeah, I think right now Neil is unplayable.

“You look at the last few weeks, Neil is unplayable, he can come inside, he can go outside.

“I said it before, he’s 6ft 2in, he can run, he’s adding goals, assists…

“Definitely, more goals and assists, that’s his next step. But I think he’s there, just there, if you look at his performances, he’s just a yard off, I think he’s just there.

“I have no doubt he has the potential to play for Ireland. He has all the attributes you’d want to play at that level.

“When he’s in the form he has all year, he’s unplayable at the moment.”

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