Aaron McEneff: Shamrock Rovers' 2019 FAI Cup win was a catalyst for success

Perth Glory midfielder, Aaron McEneff, reflected on his time in the League of Ireland, and how the 2019 FAI Cup win for Shamrock Rovers was the catalyst for a period of success that has followed.

The former Rovers star, who is currently plying his trade in Western Australia, joined us on the extratime.com podcast this week and spoke about the importance of the cup win for the Tallaght side.

When asked whether it was the catalyst for the recent success, McEneff said, “I think so. I think it was more of a mentality thing where it broke that barrier. Our squad then, we had a real belief after that.”

Speaking about the occasion itself, McEneff expressed his fondness when remembering the cup final in 2019. “To this day, it probably was the best day of my career to be honest. I loved it from start to finish. We obviously let the league slip away near the end of the season.

“Dundalk were really strong at the time. We knew the cup was massive in terms of going into next year and wanting to win the league. I remember every bit of the game to be honest, it was brilliant, to go on and win it in my first year down at the club, it was amazing.”

The following season, Shamrock Rovers went on to win their first league title since 2011, despite the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic which affected the League of Ireland as the league was reduced to just 18 games. When the action returned, it was played behind closed doors.

Despite this, McEneff claimed that the Hoops would have gone on to capture the league title regardless. “Even though the year after it was hampered with Covid and whatnot, we started the league really strong and COVID or not, I think we would have gone on to win the league.”

At the end of the 2018 season, McEneff made the difficult decision to leave his local team, Derry City, the team he had supported as a child, to move to Dublin. However, he has no regrets about the move as it was best for his career.

“It was difficult at the time, City’s my hometown club, I used to go to the Brandywell as a kid growing up. At the time, they offered me a contract to stay, but I just thought it was best for my career to move.”

McEneff continued, praising the Hoops coaching staff, “I didn’t look back really, I went to Rovers, Stephen Bradley and his staff welcomed me with open arms to be honest, and made me feel at home straight away.”

Regarding the dressing room, the 27-year-old said he joined a special group of players after signing for Shamrock Rovers. “All the boys in that playing group that we had at Rovers at the time were all great lads and to be honest, I feel that was a real special group that we had.

“The boys that are still there, I actually saw a photo from a game not too long ago, I think all the boys playing on the pitch were there when I was there, out of that picture I would have been the only one missing which is for the League of Ireland that’s very rare.

A team to stay together for that amount of years and really build something special which they have at the club, and I think it was a great move for me at the time.”

Although he is playing down under and is seven hours ahead of Ireland, he is still keeping up to date with what is happening in the League of Ireland and is delighted to see the progress that has been made in the past three years.

“It’s brilliant to see to be honest, the product on the pitch is getting better and better. The players are getting better, there are a lot of good coaches in the league now. Stadiums are getting sold out every week which is great to see.

“Living in Australia, it’s hard with the time difference to watch the games live but I do watch a lot of the games still. Since I’ve come home, I gone up to the Brandywell to watch Jordan play, there is a real buzz about the place.

“It’s brilliant for the league, it’s a great league for players to play in, especially for younger players wanting to do well and kick on in their careers, it's excellent, and as you said, it's only getting stronger”.

However, he highlighted the need for other areas of improvement such as pitches and performances of referees if the league is to continue to strive, “I’ve seen a few people say, in terms of the pitches, the referees at times, those standards have to improve to come along with the other standards for the league to progress”.

To listen to the entire conversation with Aaron McEneff, tune into the latest episode of the extratime.com podcast.