There was no eureka moment en-route to Shamrock Rovers back-to-back 19th league title as a feeling of inevitability cloaked the entire campaign.
That said, Rory Gaffney’s goal at The Showgrounds on September 18th did push them six points clear of St Patrick’s Athletic and broke the back of other sporadic contenders.
With Dundalk and Peak6 locked in a toxic embrace, St Pat’s and Sligo Rovers began the season impressively but neither club possessed the squad depth to trouble Stephen Bradley’s professional outfit over 36 games.
Similarly, Bohemians, this year’s cup specialists, drew blood in some thrilling affairs without ever placing The Shamrock Rovers Project under serious scrutiny.
May 21st - Dundalk 2-1 Shamrock Rovers - Oriel Park
The end of Rovers 33 game unbeaten streak, on a night of protest against Dundalk’s American owners, felt like a battle between title contenders. With Jim McGuinness rumours swirling around County Louth, this cornered-animal performance, spearheaded by Patrick McEleney, was quickly followed by Dundalk’s now reliable inconsistency.
May 24th - Shamrock Rovers 0-1 Sligo Rovers - Tallaght Stadium
Three days later Romeo Parkes cool finish forced Rovers into a period of jeopardy but even post-match Sligo manager Liam Buckley admitted that squad depth would matter when summer gave way to autumn.
July 30th - Shamrock Rovers 3-1 St Pat’s - Tallaght Stadium
Daylight, at last, for the defending champions as midfield signings Danny Mandroiu and Richie Towell showed a different class in victory over their chief rivals to put Rovers three points clear with a game in hand.
September 18th - Sligo Rovers 0-1 Shamrock Rovers - The Showgrounds
Rory Gaffney followed up a Gary O’Neill pile-driver to slide home the goal that put Rovers six points clear of St Pat’s with a trip to Inchicore six days later.
September 24th - St Patrick’s Athletic 0-1 Shamrock Rovers - Richmond Park
Rovers showed that Manchester United knack of scoring when it matters most. With a goalless night breathing on injury-time fumes, a superb in-swinging free kick by Dylan Watts was headed goalward by Gary O’Neill. St Pat’s goalie Vitezslav Jaros might have made another big save if sub Nahum Melvin-Lambert’s out stretched leg had not redirected an own goal. It felt like the point of no return.
October 18th - Shamrock Rovers 1-1 Bohemians - Tallaght Stadium
Despite Bohs manager Keith Long resting the league’s top scorer Georgie Kelly, under-21 duo Ross Tierney and Andy Lyons and, crucially, Ireland reserve goalkeeper James Talbot ahead of the FAI Cup semi-final, Towell’s speculative strike was needed to cancel out Liam Burt’s brilliant goal.
The night was notable for the absence of Bohs fans, by Rovers decree, and the Phibsborough club reacted by announcing the same ban would be upheld when The Hoops visited Dalymount Park in November.
Back in April, Bohs and Rovers called a brief ceasefire in an increasingly petty falling out to jointly attack RTÉ’s coverage of the League of Ireland.
“As long as they are the ones that are running things, we will continue to get what we are getting,” said Bradley. “I think we need to completely break away from it and go our own way. It might hurt us for a couple of years but that is fine, let’s build the streaming.”
Declan McBennett, RTÉ’s group head of sport, subsequently made a rigorous defence of the national broadcaster’s commitment to domestic soccer but it is the low key manner they promote live matches that is continually provoking club supporters, managers and administrators. For example, last night’s broadcast came as a surprise to many Rovers and Finn Harps supporters.
“It’s a token gesture when the game is shown and it’s wrong,” said Bradley.
That debate peaked around the lack of interest in Bohemians famous European run at the Aviva Stadium as RTÉ stuck to their plan to focus on the champions.
History will not look kindly on that decision as Rovers European road trips ruined an outstanding campaign for Bradley as his team underperformed away to Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League qualifier before an abysmal 4-2 defeat in Estonia against Flora Tallinn.
“We made mistakes that I haven’t seen this team make before,” admitted Bradley in August.
These are precious lessons for Shamrock Rovers, as plenty more opportunities are promised now that Uefa have created the Europa Conference League, so long as Sporting Director Stephen McPhail strikes an effective balance between investing in veterans and promoting from an academy that has already produced Gavin Bazunu.
Despite missing out on €3 million for reaching the Europa League group stages it was a lucrative period for the Tallaght club. 17-year-old striker Aidomo Emakhu’s injury-time winner against KF Teuta Durrës brought the European earnings to approximately €1.8 million. Winning the league nets them the lion’s share of €600,000 in prize money and there was Bazunu’s seven caps for Ireland, each earning them a six figure bonus from Manchester City as part of their 2018 deal with the second wealthiest club in the world.
That agreement is finite but there’s no reason why the Rovers academy cannot continue to produce one season wonders before cashing in on 18-year-olds when English clubs sign them up.
This is the way forward until all parties - the Irish Government, the FAI, its Siptu members and clubs - settle upon a sustainable investment plan for young Irish talent.
In the meantime, the 2020s is all set to become the decade of The Hoops.
