Shamrock Rovers 1 Derry City 0
It was easy to stay long after the final whistle as co-captains Pico Lopes and Ronan Finn walked the league trophy on to the Tallaght grass alongside Josh Bradley, the manager’s eight-year-old son who was diagnosed with leukaemia in June.
Josh even went on a solo run towards the Shamrock Rovers ultras, losing Lopes on the turn as everything else paled into insignificance on a night to savour for Rovers.
Decisions and distractions. What to wear, hoops, candystripes or the Halloween costume? Go hell for leather or mind the body?
Derry City, understandably saving themselves ahead of the FAI Cup final on Sunday week, kept it light.
For Rovers, the champions on parade before a healthy 7,726 attendance, the distraction was Thursday’s trip to Stockholm and the final Europa Conference League outing against Djurgardens, with its €500,000 Uefa win bonus.
As a result, the rivalry set to dominate the 2020s became an exhibition match but nobody cared as autumn temperatures fed into the bank holiday atmosphere.
“Get more wins early in the league to attack [European results],” said Stephen Bradley of the club’s tricky balancing act come 2023. “But we all know how important winning the domestic league is.”
In the end, Rovers’ eighth Premier Division title and third on the bounce, draws them level with Dundalk, who are a modern cautionary tale. When current Ireland manager Stephen Kenny departed in 2019, Dundalk had captured five titles in six seasons, only for the squad to disintegrate before the American owners Peak6 finally sold up.
Rovers, under chairman Ciarán Medlar and sporting director Stephen McPhail, are not expected to suffer a similar fate, even if Bradley is lured back to England, where he began his playing career at Arsenal.
Still only 37, he was already tempted this season by Lincoln City, as three League of Ireland titles leaves only Kenny, Pat Fenlon and Dermot Keely with more domestic titles to their managerial names in the Premier Division era.
The team will automatically improve if their most influential players, Jack Byrne and Lopes, stay fit for longer periods next year while gifted teenager Justin Ferizaj should only improve.
Derry can still launch the Ruaidhrí Higgins era with silverware. Only Shelbourne and Damien Duff’s ability to manifest success stands in their way at the Aviva Stadium on November 13th. But a storming nine-match winning streak almost snatched a rare double. Finishing second in the league without Michael Duffy for most of the campaign, after losing only five matches and drawing 12, shows scope for instant improvement in 2023.
Speaking of improvements, the new Tallaght stand blocks the funeral home that blocks The Square. It rounds out the best small ground in the region, the ideal venue to host nearby clubs seeking to follow Rovers into the lucrative group stages of European football this decade.
Stay or go? Andy Lyons made his mind up, suiting everyone by staying at Rovers until the January window before launching a new career with Blackpool in the English Championship, so it was fitting that the Irish under-21 wing back combined with Rory Gaffney to give the champions a lead five minutes before half-time.
It was a trademark Rovers goal as Lyons dribbled to the end line and cut back for Gaffney’s 13th finish in all competitions. “It’s great to win three-in-a-row,” said the striker. “On nights like this where else in Ireland would you want to be playing your football?”
Jamie McGonigle also turned Lopes early in the second half only to send a curling effort well wide of Alan Mannus’s goal. Saving up his accuracy for the cup final perhaps.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mannus; Cleary, Lopes, Hoare (O’Neill, 86); Farrugia (Burke, 76), Cleary, Kavanagh (Finn, 86), Ferizaj (Gannon, 57), Towell (Byrne, 76), Lyons; Gaffney.
DERRY CITY: Maher; Boyce (Thomson, 79), Connolly, S McEleney, McJannett; Dummigan, Diallo; P McEleney, Patching (Graydon, 79), Duffy (Kavanagh, 79); McGonigle (Akintunde, 79).
Referee: Rob Harvey.
