2023 Season Preview: Shamrock Rovers

Head Coach: Stephen Bradley   

Stadium: Tallaght Stadium

Players in: Liam Burt (Bohemians), Trevor Clarke (Bristol Rovers - loan), Johnny Kenny (Celtic - loan), Markus Poom (Flora Tallinn - loan).

Players out: Barry Cotter (Barnsley), Aidomo Emakhu (Millwall), Oisin Hand (Longford Town), Michael Leddy (Drogheda United - loan), Andy Lyons (Blackpool), Chris McCann (Burton Albion), Dean McMenamy (Waterford), Cole Omorehiomwan (Bray Wanderers), Mikey Raggett (UCD), Viktor Serdeniuk (Longford Town), Adam Wells (UCD).

extratime.com key player: Johnny Kenny

Having sold teenager Aidomo Emakhu to Millwall, before any new signings the Hoops main goal scoring threat for 2023 looked to be the troika of Graham Burke (11 league goals in 2022), Rory Gaffney (10 league goals) and Aaron Greene (four goals).

Having lost Danny Mandroiu (seven goals) mid-way through the 2022 campaign and attacking defender Andy Lyons (seven goals) departing to Blackpool at the end of the season, the Hoops needed to bring fresh attacking threat in and they have done that with the arrival of Liam Burt and Johnny Kenny.

Prior to this season Stephen Bradley had tended to avoid loan signings. For 2023 however he has brought in three loanees – Kenny and Estonian international Markus Poom with Trevor Clarke also returning to Rovers.

The trio will at least be in Tallaght for all of 2023 having been signed on season long loans, thus avoiding any destabilising call back for the players to their parent club in the middle of the League of Ireland campaign.

Bradley’s only permanent new signing is Liam Burt who adds a different dimension to Rovers’ squad. Signed from Bohs, Burt scored six league goals in a season when he had the third highest number of shots in the league – 3.6 per 90 minutes. He also finished runners up in the dribble charts last season averaging 8.4 per 90 minutes.

However, there is genuine excitement about what 19-year-old Johnny Kenny can offer in attack for the Hoops. At Sligo Rovers he scored a dozen goals for the Bit O’Red during their 2021 campaign with 11 in the league and one in Europe. He will provide a different type of outlet to Rory Gaffney or Aaron Greene – both of whom are 33 years of age.

extratime.com one to watch: Justin Ferizaj

Rovers fans were counting down the minutes to midnight on 31 January to see whether they would hang onto their highly rated teenager Justin Ferizaj. When the midfielder turned 18 in mid-January, there was plenty of interest from British clubs who could now make a move for the Ireland under-19 international but he has decided to stay for the start of this season with the Hoops.

Ferizaj made 16 appearances last season, including nine in Rovers’ European campaign and it will be difficult for the club to hang onto the player who spent a week training with Spurs last month.

How they did last season:

League: Champions

Having won the league in 2021 by a 16-point margin, they backed that up last year by retaining the title – their third in a row - with a 13 point gap over runners up Derry City.

Their 79 points total for the season beat their club record by a point set the previous year and they also equalled their highest number of wins in a league campaign of 24 (also set in 2021). They kept 17 clean sheets in 36 league games.

Their home form has been instrumental in winning three league titles in a row – they have lost just the one league match in Tallaght during that time (against Sligo Rovers in May 2021).

FAI Cup: Quarter-Final

Their cup campaign began against Bangor Celtic in a 4-0 ‘away’ win in Tallaght Stadium when then 17-year-old Justin Ferizaj made his debut.

In the second round, Rovers beat Drogheda United 2-1 after the game in Louth went to extra-time with Andy Lyons scoring the winner.

The Hoops then had a difficult three day turn around from their Europa Conference League game in Gent before taking on Derry City in the Brandywell in the quarter-final.

Lee Grace’s red card – Rovers third and last sending off in a 54 game season – made their task more difficult but having taken the game to extra-time, Derry City prevailed 3-1 en-route to winning the FAI Cup.

Europe: Europa Conference League group stage

In 2021 Rovers fell at the final hurdle before group stage football. Last season, the Hoops made the most of the benefit of being seeded in the Champions League qualifiers as Rovers returned to group stage football for the first time since 2011.

The Hoops earned €3,936,500 (with a six figure TV sum still to come) as they made the Europa Conference League group stage.

First up they beat Maltese champions Hibernians 3-0 on aggregate which saw them drop into the Europa League qualifiers after Ludogorets beat them in the Champions League second round (4-2 on aggregate). 

They beat Shkupi (home and away) in the Europa League third round qualifier with a 5-2 aggregate win which assured Rovers of group stage football. After the 4-1 aggregate defeat to Ferencvaros in the Europe League play-off round, it meant the Hoops were directed into the Europa Conference League group stage.

They lost four of their group games but picked up points at home against group winners (Djurgardens) and runners up (Gent).  

Overall they won five, drew three and lost six games in Europe in a campaign when they played a record number of games for a League of Ireland side in Europe. The Hoops lost just the one match at home (a 2-0 group game loss to Molde).

What to expect this season:

The expectation is that this Shamrock Rovers side will match the club’s famous team from the 1980s and make it four in a row. Rovers will also be looking to make it back to European group stage football where they will hope it might be in the Europa League this time around.

The combination of domestic and European football stretched the Hoops squad to the very limit last year. With key strategic signings they will hope to look to balance better league requirements – with a strengthened Derry City side likely to push them all the way – with results in Europe. The club is yet to win a group stage game from the dozen they have played.

First game: Having lost the President’s Cup season curtain raiser 2-0 away to Derry City, the Hoops begin their title defence away to Sligo Rovers next Saturday evening.

Keith Buckley: 'It felt like I was away longer than a year but I'm very happy to be back with Bohs'https://t.co/NZg35SGL0a

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) February 12, 2023