Hoops boss Bradley: 'Rolls Royce' Hanney on the road to the top

Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley was pleased with a vintage defensive performance by league debutant Shane Hanney on Friday night, describing the 18-year-old Hanney in classic car terms as a 'Rolls Royce.'

In Finn Park, Hanney was handed his first SSE Airtricity League start and helped the Hoops keep their first clean sheet in the league of Bradley’s tenure with a 2-0 win over Finn Harps.

“We’ve been scoring goals but we’ve been conceding as well so it was great to get the clean sheet,” said Bradley speaking to Extratime.ie after his team’s third win in their last four league games.

“Shane Hanney is a Rolls Royce for me. You can play him anywhere on the pitch. That’s Shane. I’ve had him since I came in with the under -19s and I know what he can do.”

Hanney signed for Rovers back in 2014 from Templeogue United and was part of Ireland’s squad at last year’s UEFA Under-17 European Championship Finals in Bulgaria. He scored twice on his first-team debut in the Leinster Senior Cup against Athlone Town last season.

“That performance doesn’t surprise with Shane,” said Bradley. “If anything I know he can do even better. He is another one that is coming through and is trying to get into the team and stay in the team.”

Another 18-year-old who looks like he will be staying in the Rovers team is Sean Boyd. The 6’3” striker scored for the fourth successive game and was very impressive against the physical defending meted out to him by the Finn Harps centre-back pairing.

Boyd scored the opener for the Hoops on 54 minutes before laying on the second for Dean Clarke ten minutes from time.

Boyd made his first league start earlier in the season when he was just 17. Along with Trevor Clarke and Aaron Dobbs, Boyd is one of three 17-year-olds who have debuted in the league this year for Rovers.

Hanney and James Doona are the two 18-year-olds who have made their first league starts this season. Doona also scored in last week’s 5-0 FAI Cup win over Athlone Town as Rovers look to be seeing a dividend on the work they have put into their youth team structures in the last few seasons.

“Sean is on fire,” said Bradley about Boyd who linked up well with Brandon Miele for the opening goal. Miele made his 50^th league appearance for Rovers last Friday night in Finn Park.

“It was a great move. Brandon, when he runs at people, is very hard to stop as he can go either way. He is very powerful. When we get him running at people he causes problems and he did that. It dropped to Sean in the box and anything Sean hits at the minute is a goal.”

The Hoops once again went with a 3-5-2 formation with Boyd playing up front with Gary Shaw. Hanney slotted into the back three, alongside Rob Cornwall and Dave O’Connor, with 20-year-old Sean Heaney missing out due to injury.

“That is the way I’ve played since I’ve come in but we’ve changed it for one or two games and we will do so again. It is good to see the lads have that system and they understand how to play it.

“When you start getting your players in pockets and little half spaces the opposition have to think then and players don’t like doing that. All I need is for one player to switch off for 30 seconds and you have them and that is what happens.”

The Hoops struggled to break down Harps in the first half but Bradley felt his formation gave his side the freedom to find some extra space as Harps faded as the game wore on.

“I just said, ‘look, be patient’,” was the message he gave his players at the break. “I knew what we were doing in the first half would make them open up in the second half because they couldn’t press us the way they were pressing for 90 minutes.

“They were asking their players to do a lot of work and I knew at some stage in the game they would open up so I said to the lads at half time be patient. Keep doing what you’re doing. Just up the tempo a little bit, 5%, and we will win the game. Patience was the key.”

There are two crucial home games for the Hoops this week as they take on Derry City and St. Patrick’s Athletic. Tuesday’s match against Derry will be Rovers’ 23^rd game of the season and, if they win, they will jump a point clear of Derry City (who have played two games more) and go level with Cork City in second place.

It would also leave the Hoops four points behind league leaders Dundalk who, like Cork, have played 21 games, with the Lilywhites due to face Rovers twice more in the league before season’s end.

A top three position will guarantee a European spot but should a side in one of the first three positions also win the FAI Cup, fourth place will mean Europe – a key target no doubt for Rovers who will watch on enviously next month as Dundalk bring Europa League football back to Tallaght for the first time since Rovers made the group stages in 2011.

“[They'e] big games, but that is what this club is about,” said Bradley about this week’s fixtures against Derry and St. Pat’s. “We know what we have to do. We never panicked when it looked like we were miles off, we knew we weren’t. We just need to keep going, winning games and we will hit our targets.”