Bradley takes the positives despite penalty shootout loss to Dundalk

Brendan Graham reports from Tallaght Stadium

Stephen Bradley was noticeably upbeat after the President’s Cup final defeat to Dundalk on Friday evening. He came away from the game with a lot of positives in terms of his team’s performance.

Despite not being able to make the most of an extra man for the last 30 minutes of the game, the Hoops put in a positive upbeat display, passed the ball well and looked comfortable on the ball throughout.

“I thought we were very good,” said Bradley after the penalty shootout.

“We were excellent and a lot of our play was really positive and pleasing. Disappointed with the goal we gave away but overall we really were very good. We hit the post, hit the crossbar and created a few very good chances but it just didn’t fall for us tonight.”

Although it was only the traditional curtain raiser and effectively a friendly between the two sides, any game against Dundalk will always be competitive, a real test and perfect preparation in fine tuning a squad a week out from the season opener.

Having kept 13 clean sheets in just 18 league games last season, the goal that Rovers conceded on the stroke of half time was extremely uncharacteristic.

With a tricky league opener on Friday against St. Pats to navigate, set piece defending will be high on the priority list for the training schedule this week.

“It was a really poor goal to concede from our point of view. We need to sit down in the coming days and go through it, we don’t give away too many goals from set plays so it’s one we will definitely look at.”

The turning point in the game and the main moment of real controversy came on the hour mark. Dundalk goal scorer Sonni Nattestad was shown a straight red card for a rash lunge on Graham Burke.

The mixed reaction from interested spectators both in the ground and from fans watching on was that the colour of the card may have been over the top but according to Bradley there was no argument after the challenge and that Damian MacGraith was correct in his decision.

“It was a definite red card for me. He has gone in two footed, he came off the ground so yes it was a red card.”

If the competitive fixtures between the sides in the coming weeks and months brings with it the same intensity, bite and rivalry as Friday night, we are in for another exciting season in ‘The Greatest League in the World’.

In Pictures: Shamrock Rovers 1 - 1 Dundalk (Dundalk win 4-3 on penalties) https://t.co/8o2zWlAHZ4pic.twitter.com/67KumYcuUD

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) March 13, 2021