Taylor - I'm proud of my players

Limerick manager Stuart Taylor was “proud of the players” after they got back on the winning trail against Shamrock Rovers at Thomond Park on Tuesday night, with the 38-year-old declaring himself “over the moon” with the performance.

The Superblues went into their test against the recently-crowned EA Sports Cup winners without a win in six games but in good spirits after their draw against title favourites Saint Patrick’s Athletic 17 days earlier.

From the outset their intent was clear as they attacked from the first whistle, and after Jason Hughes broke the deadlock inside ten minutes they never looked back, with Rory Gaffney’s second-half wonder strike sealing a fully-deserved three points.

And speaking afterwards, the boss was thrilled with his players’ attitude, particularly on the training ground in the build-up to the game.

“I thought it was great; we set our stall out well in training,” Taylor said. “We were a wee bit worried after the good performance against St. Pat’s that the game was too far away, but all credit to the players.

“They applied themselves brilliantly throughout training in the last ten days or so – it has been a really good tempo.

“We were busting to get out at the start of the game and all credit to them – they dominated the game from start to finish.

“I thought that we harassed them all over the pitch, we forced them into mistakes and we took our chances.

“I thought we were excellent throughout, from Barry Ryan all the way through to Craig Curran. I thought every single person did their job, plus more.

“There was a real togetherness in the performance tonight. I was over the moon with the performance and I was delighted with the result.

“We’ve not really had the pleasure of having the dominance of having more aerial threat than the opposition, but it was something that we had tonight and we made the most of it.

“Having Sammy (Oji) and Stephen (Folan) going up attacking the ball was great and Jason pounced on the second ball and got his goal which was brilliant.

“Then in the second half, Rory scored a wonder goal. Taking those two goals out of the way, I thought the play was fantastic. I’m absolutely delighted and I’m proud of the players.”

Limerick recorded back-to-back clean-sheets in the league for just the second time this season and Taylor is understandably delighted with what Samuel Oji has added to the team.

“It’s two clean-sheets against two of the top teams in the league,” he said.

“Before that even, up in Sligo, I thought there were a lot of good things there and there was a lot of positivity in the game with the way we played. We’re building on things.
 

“It’s great for Stephen because there’s a bit of continuity about our back four now. Stephen is still a young kid and it’s his first full season. To play alongside the same centre-half for three games in a row now is great for him.

“To be fair to him, before that I think he had about six different partners at centre-back; there were midfielders, left-backs, right-backs and all sorts of changes.

“Where Stephen is in his career right now he needs someone beside him who’s a centre-back and can talk him through games, and he has got that with Samuel.

“We just need to make sure that we keep people away from injury and suspension.

“We want to finish off the season on a high and we’re doing fine just now. We just need to keep going and keep building on what we’re doing.”

Taylor also praised Hughes, who marked just his second start since returning to the club in July with a goal and an assist.

“Jason has done great; he has been excellent since he’s come in,” Stuart said. “He has given us a different dimension in there. He’s a kid who has got a lot of hunger and a lot of desire and he has got a real passion about his play. And he has shown that he can pop up with goals.

“With that, he’s good in the tackle, he’s solid, he times it very well and he’s very comfortable on the ball as well. So he fits into how we want to go and play.

“He has had to be patient to get his chance but that’s the type of character he is.

“He has shown a great professionalism in training and a good attitude, and it was just a case of once he got his chance it was up to him to go and hold his jersey and he has put in a great performance tonight to go and hold onto that jersey.

“I’m sure he’ll have a good finish to the season as well.”

Tuesday’s outing was the first of three games in just a six-day period, but Taylor says his players will get on with the task facing them.

“We’ve not moaned about anything this season,” he said. “We take it as it is and we get on with it. It’s going to be a real test for us, to be fair, but we’ll go and deal with it.

“When things are going well, it’s a lot easier to deal with. When you get good results players are happy enough to go and turn out games.

“And when you’ve got the support that we have getting behind us, it makes things a lot easier, without a shadow of a doubt.

“I think the most difficult thing we’ll find is making the journey to Dundalk and coming back and playing the third game in such a short space of time.

“But it is what it is and we’ll give it everything we’ve got, because we’ve got a good recovery time, 13 days, to the game after next Monday.”