2017 Season Report Card - Shamrock Rovers

Team:  Shamrock Rovers

Manager: Stephen Bradley

Top Scorer: Gary Shaw scored 11 in the league (plus one in Europe) but Brandon Miele scored 16 in all competitions (nine in the league, five in the FAI Cup and two in the League Cup).

Highest Attendance: 5,220 came through the turnstiles in Tallaght for Rovers’ first home game of the season which was a Dublin derby where they beat Bohs 2-1. In July 6,500 did attend the friendly in Tallaght against Celtic.

Lowest Attendance: 1,234 attended the midweek match back in May – a 2-1 win over Galway United.

Star Player: Ronan Finn. The midfielder returned to Rovers after a highly successful spell at Dundalk and was handed the captain’s armband with the Hoops. Finn, despite carrying a niggling groin injury for much of the season, started all but three league games, scoring six goals in league action and was the driving force for Rovers in midfield. His best game, amongst so many, came in Rovers 2-1 win over Dundalk in Tallaght in May.

Best Young Player: Just like last year, the standout young player for Shamrock Rovers was Trevor Clarke. In 2016, the Ireland under-19 international started 14 league games for the Hoops but this year he started 27 league games with suspensions causing him to miss out on playing in each of the other league games. Clarke got three league goals this season with the best coming with a superb strike in the 2-0 win in Dalymount in the Dublin Derby (see here).

It remains to be seen if Clarke will head back to Britain in the close season. He has been with Rovers since returning from Middlesbrough as a 17-year-old but his eye catching performances at left back and on both the left and right hand sides of midfield have attracted some cross channel attention.

Best New Signing: Special mention to Lee Grace who was signed mid-season but overall Graham Burke was the best signing despite missing the last two months of the season due to injury and being sent off twice (amongst the tally of ten red cards for the Hoops).

He was one of 12 new players brought into the first team squad from outside the club at the start of the season. Burke, who has a cultured left foot, got ten goals in all competitions including three in the Europa League qualifiers. One of the goals against Mlada Boleslav is regarded by many as the best goal scored so far by a Rovers player in Tallaght (see here).

What we expected they would do: Third place was the view of the extratime.ie hive mind at the start of the season (see here) and that’s the way things worked out.

What they actually did: Along with that third place in the league, the Hoops made it to the semi-final of the FAI Cup (losing in extra time in the replay to Dundalk). They were also finalists in the EA Sports Cup where they would also lose to Dundalk. They progressed through to the second qualifying round in Europe.

Crucially they secured Europe under the own merits by finishing third providing a significant financial boost to the club’s coffers. They also managed to beat Dundalk and Cork City twice which is a sign of intent for the Hoops for next season. With such a large turnover of players and it being Stephen Bradley’s first full season in charge, that is a decent return for Rovers.

The playing style has improved from that which was regularly on offer during Pat Fenlon’s time in charge of Rovers but it is now six full seasons since Rovers had a real tilt at the league title.

What they need to improve on for next year: The mood music around Rovers this season has been good but Hoops fans will begin to get impatient if they don’t see a trophy in Tallaght in 2018. There is likely to be less turnover of players this winter but many would like to see a new goalkeeper and a new striker added to the squad over the course of the close season.

Trevor Clarke, Michael O’Connor and James Doona are three 19-year-old players who are all looking at possible moves to the UK. Should they leave the Hoops that will create some space in the Rovers squad to bring new players in or to promote from the under 19 level. 17-year-old Aaron Bolger has been so impressive in recent weeks. He is likely to get even more game time in 2018, having made seven league appearances, all towards the latter end of the season.

Moment of season: Trevor Clarke’s goal and performance in the win over Bohs at Dalymount earned the teenager the man-of-the-match award in May. Clarke’s post-match interview ended up getting an RTÉ Player explicit warning after the teenager used some “colourful language” live on TV when accepting his award (see here)!