Semi-final opponents hold no fear for Hoops' Bradley

Stephen Bradley has no fear about who his team will face in the FAI Cup semis after their quarter-final cup win over Bluebell United on Friday.

The Hoops head coach is delighted with where his team are at being one game away from the Aviva, as well as taking on Dundalk in the EA Sports Cup Final next Saturday along with their ongoing battle for third in the table.

Shamrock Rovers breezed by Bluebell and into the semi-final with their 4-2 victory – Rovers’ seventh consecutive competitive win. The last Hoops team to do similar was their 1993/94 title winning side.

The semi-final cup draw takes place on Monday night with Rovers joined in the hat by holder Cork City, 2015 winners Dundalk and Limerick making their first appearance in a semi-final since 1994.

However Bradley isn’t fazed by who they might face. “I don’t care,” said Bradley “Cork, Dundalk, Limerick. It doesn’t bother me.”

His team play the Lilywhites next week at Tallaght Stadium, the venue for EA Sports Cup final. “Dundalk are a top side and have been in this country for four years.

“Dundalk are on a good run but we don’t fear anyone, Cork or Dundalk. Head to head we are good as either of them on a given night. We have shown that this year, we have beaten both of them twice.

“If you had have offered us two cups and fighting for third in January I’d have taken your hand off considering the new squad, new staff and they way I wanted to play which was new.

“Will we get any one of them, I don’t know but I love the way we are fighting for both cups and for third.”

The Hoops were made work in the FAI Cup quarter-final by the Bell and Bradley had impressed upon his playerw that they “had to respect what Bluebell were going to bring.

“They were going to love coming here and playing on this pitch, playing against us. That was their cup final.”

The visitors are managed by Shamrock Rovers fan Andy Noonan.

Speaking after the game, Noonan was delighted with his team’s performance and while disappointed with the result for Bluebell after the final whistle he said “I told Stephen Bradley to go on and win it, win it for the fans.”

Brandon Miele scored a superb hat-trick to help secure Rovers the victory, taking his tally to 12 for the season. That moves Miele above Gary Shaw as top scorer for the Hoops this year.

Shaw should be available for Rovers next week having had to sit out Friday’s game with broken a cheekbone picked up early in the 3-1 league win over Cork City last week.

“You will have to go a long way to see a better hat-trick,” said Bradley about Miele’s goals. “He has a strange way of hitting the ball. He hits it and at the last minute it dips and ‘keepers think it is going wide or over.

“It is an excellent technique that he works on most days. I was really pleased as I thought our attacking play deserved four goals.”

In the Rovers team there was only one player who was alive when Rovers last won the cup – 32 year old ‘keeper Tomer Chencinski.

Bradley picked three teenagers in the starting line up and, while Miele was the unanimous choice for man of the match in the press box, 17-year-old Aaron Bolger wasn’t far behind.

The midfielder made his first start of the season last week in the win over Cork and was very composed with his play this week.

“The young boys were excellent,” said Bradley. “Aaron plays the game like he has eyes on the back of his head.

“He sees movement around him, he twists his body, he has a low centre of gravity. He was clever and was different class tonight all night.”

With Hoops captain Ronan Finn suspended, Bradley also gave a first start to Cameron King who turns 22 on Sunday. The Scottish u21 international looked good before making his way for teenager James Doona with 20 minutes to go.

“Cameron fits the way we want to play. He is a very clever footballer and can play off both feet and plays on the half turn.

“He is very hard to make as he doesn’t need a touch to turn.”

Article updated to reflect Cork City's win over Longford Town in Saturday evening's semi-final.

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— Shamrock Rovers F.C. (@ShamrockRovers) September 8, 2017