End of Season Report Card - Shamrock Rovers

Team: Shamrock Rovers

Head Coach: Stephen Bradley

Top Scorer: Aaron Greene (11 league goals)

Stadium:  Tallaght Stadium

Highest Attendance: 7,021 (1-0 win v Bohemians, Friday 30 Aug)

Lowest Attendance: 1,512 (7-0 win v UCD, Sunday 21 July)

Star Player: Jack Byrne

“Byrne was very impressive for Rovers as he pulled the strings in midfield, dropping into pockets of space to receive the ball and showing great distribution with his passing.”

This sentence was from the extratime.ie match report on Rovers’ pre-season win over Brentford B back in early February but it really could have come from any Rovers match report this year. 

Byrne bagged eight goals in the league, on the big European stage he got six assists and a goal in the Europa League, and he also netted from the peno spot in the FAI Cup Final shoot-out.



His Rovers performances propelled him into Mick McCarthy’s senior international squad earning an international cap with the Boys in Green.

He was one of four Rovers players named in the PFAI team of the year (along with Alan Mannus, Lee Grace and Sean Kavanagh). A sign of Rovers’ progression this year is that they had no players making that grade last year. Byrne is also shortlisted for the senior and young PFAI player of the year.

Best Young Player: Brandon Kavanagh

Hoops Head Coach Stephen Bradley has spoken about ensuring that there is a clear player pathway for younger players at Tallaght into his first team.

Rovers in the last 12 months have made some serious money from selling younger players; Gavin Bazunu, Aaron Bolger and Trevor Clarke all have gone to clubs across the water but no player has come through to cement a regular first team place this season.

Having said that Brandon Kavanagh has played an important part in Rovers squad this year. Injury and international calls up have hindered him making the Rovers matchday squad.



While the Ireland under-21 international only made seven starts for the Hoops, he was Stephen Bradley’s most used substitute in the league. Kavanagh came off the bench 15 times. His talent for holding onto the ball and picking out a pinpoint pass with his left foot helped the Hoops close out many a game. 

Best New Signing:  Aaron McEneff

Rather than note Jack Byrne as Rovers’ best new signing, Aaron McEneff is the player that comes to mind. The view is that the Hoops could have pushed Dundalk tighter to their title if the Derryman had been available for a crucial eight game period around June.  

With the midfielder missing due to injury, the Hoops lost back-to-back games against Bohs and Dundalk and drew home games against Derry City and Sligo Rovers

McEneff scored ten league goals, just one behind Hoops top scorer Aaron Greene, with three from the penalty spot – none better than his paneka peno against his old club Derry City in the first home game of the season.

Scoring into the new South Stand in Tallaght where Rovers’ singing section is located made for a memorable night in front of 4,612 fans and helped cement McEneff as a fans favourite.

What we expected they would do:

Ahead of the start of the season, the extratime.ie team predicted that the Hoops would finish second (see here) and that is exactly the position where Stephen Bradley’s men ended up in.

What they actually did:

SSE Airtricity League 

Rovers came racing out of the blocks at the start of the season, building up an early lead over the Dundalk. At one stage the Hoops, having played two games more than the Louth men, held a 13 point lead over the Lilywhites.

But across a four week period prior to their European campaign, the Hoops dropped ten points in a five game period which saw their lead over Dundalk evaporate. It coincided with the Lilywhites hitting their stride, as Dundalk would go 31 games domestic games without a defeat across a six month period.

FAI Cup

The Hoops finally ended their FAI Cup famine and claimed their 25th cup crown. Rovers prevailed on penalties against Dundalk in a dramatic Aviva Stadium showdown with talk around Tallaght that the cup win will be the stepping stone for more silverware for Stephen Bradley’s men.

Dispatching Harps (1-0) and Drogheda United (4-0), both at home, they then needed a late Lee Grace header in Galway to secure at 2-1 quarter-final win to set up semi against bitter rivals Bohs in Dalymount Park.

Rovers hadn’t won in Phibsboro for over two years but what a time for them to put that right in a sold-out Dalymount Park. That win will have gained even more in stature as Rovers went on to lift the cup on Lansdowne Road after some late drama.

The Hoops were the better team in the final against Dundalk and Aaron McEneff’s late penalty looked to have secured them the win before Michael Duffy broke Hoops hearts deep in injury time.

Scoreless in extra time, the Hoops were faultless in the shoot-out. 32 years of hurt was cast aside by the Hoops when club captain Ronan Finn lifted the trophy.

Europa League

Getting through a round in Europe quantifies as a successful European campaign – banking €500,000 in the process – and that is what Rovers managed but came ever so close to getting more. 

The Hoops beat SK Brann 4-3 on aggregate in the first round after Pico Lopes’ late equaliser in the 2-2 draw in Norway gave them the platform in the second leg back in Tallaght. In front of 5,135 fans the Hoops came from behind in a grand stand finish to win 2-1 on the night.

In the second qualifying round, Rovers came close to knocking out the much higher ranked side Apollon Limassol. The Hoops won the first leg in Tallaght 2-1 and an Aaron Greene screamer took the second leg to extra-time before the Cypriot side prevailed.

In one of the more interesting transfers of the season, the Limassol club subsequently signed Hoops striker Dan Carr following the tie.

EA Sports Cup

The Hoops exited the EA Sports Cup final at the first hurdle, eliminated on penalties by First Division side Bray Wanderers. Goalkeeper Leon Pohls kept a clean sheet in his one and only senior appearance for the Hoops this year but he couldn’t stop Rovers exiting 4-2 on penalties. 

What they need to improve on for next year:

The Hoops continued their superb defensive displays from the second half of last season – following the arrival of Alan Mannus – throughout this campaign. With a club record 21 clean sheets from 36 league games, there isn’t that much room to improve.

There has been much debate about getting a goalscorer in Tallaght that can hit the heights of 20 goals to make a proper tilt at the title. Certainly that would have helped but Pat Hoban only scored 13 for Champions Dundalk.

The Hoops scored 29 goals between three players (Aaron Greene, Aaron McEneff and Jack Byrne) so a goalscorer would probably help.

Rovers though will rue the points dropped against Bohemians (9) and crucially in the head-to-head games against Dundalk (10) and that really is where they need to improve on next year if they are to close the 11 point gap on the Lilywhites.

Winning this season’s FAI Cup, at the expense of Dundalk, will only whet the appetite for Hoops supporters about running the Lilywhites much closer in the title race in 2020.

    About Macdara Ferris

    Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile