Stephen Bradley’s men welcome familiar foes in NK Celje to Tallaght on Thursday evening as they look to get back on track after a poor run of form that has kept the champagne on ice for longer than initially anticipated in the league
Their focus will now turn back to European engagements as they look to bounce back from poor showing in MD1 in Prague.
Bradley rested key players that night ahead of a cup semifinal against Kerry just a couple of days later but no such liberties will be taken here as Shamrock Rovers must get at least a draw to keep qualification hopes in their hands.
Familiar Foes
Stephen Bradley and his players will be well aware of the side they are coming up against in D24 on Thursday night. The 2 met last August in a Europa League 3rd qualifying round. Celje took a 1-0 lead to Tallaght after the first leg in Slovenia but Rovers prevailed in the 2nd leg after extra time thanks to a Graham Burke winner in extra time to secure Conference League Phase football last season.
Albert Riera
If Stephen Bradley ever was looking for something to motivate his players for this game, Celje manager Albert Riera served it up to him on a plate in his pre match press conference yesterday. The former Liverpool winger backed up his comments from after the tie in August last year where he criticised Rovers directness in the game and stated that he felt his team “were the superior outfit and should’ve been dominating the game”. One might’ve thought that in the space of 15 months the dust may have settled but that ideology was ridiculed yesterday when the Spaniard backed up those comments and subsequently calling Bradley out for his criticism of his own comments last year. It’s bound to be another tasty evening on the touchline between the two!
Team News
There’s been some notable absentees for the Champions-elect in recent weeks. Josh Honahan hasn’t featured since the win over Kerry but is expected to be available here, the wingback on the opposite side in Danny Grant has been ruled out of this game but is said to not be too far away, Aaron Greene is also out but Lee Grace returned as a sub in Inchicore last week so should be available from the start on Thursday. World Cup bound Pico Lopes is also expected to make a return after his wife gave birth last Friday to cap an unforgettable week for the man from Crumlin.
Players to watch: Franko Kovačević
The Croatian forward is definitely the danger man for Rovers to be wary of on Thursday night. He epitomises Celje’s clear improvement since the two last met. He joined from Gangwon FC in the K League at the beginning of this season and he has absolutely ripped it up since. He’s scored 10 in 10 in the league up to now where Celje sit a handsome 11 points clear at the top of the table after only 10 games, he scored 4 in 4 during qualifying for the Conference League and most notably scored a hat trick in Celje’s impressive win over AEK Athens in MD1.
Hoops bad run of form
Stephen Bradley made it quite clear after his side’s 2-1 over Bohemians in September that the title was as good as won but now a month later the trophy hasn’t quite been engraved as of yet. However, he won’t panic and he never does. He’ll have no doubts that his players have shaken off the last couple of weeks and are fully focused on a huge European night in Tallaght against a good Celje team.
Rovers can’t really afford to lose this one with AEK Athens and Shaktar Donetsk to face in the next couple of games in Europe before 2 winnable games to end with.
Key details
Kickoff: 20:00
Referee: Ondrej Berka (Czech Republic)
Channel: Premier Sports 1