League Champions 2026, how good does that sound and as you always say, it was important for everyone to celebrate.
“It was important to celebrate. It sounds really good, it’s what we worked for and is our number one target every year. We’ve obviously achieved that which is great and there’s no better feeling when you’ve done it. You know you’ve had to work every day and every week to achieve it. We’ve had some ups and downs and everything in between that a season throws up. So it’s always really satisfying when you achieve that goal. It gets better the more you do it, because it gets harder so it’s really nice.”
You banned the league trophy from being there last Friday, was it quite simply get the job done last Friday against Sligo and see where it took us?
“I didn’t feel it would send the right message to anyone in the game. We had nothing won. I don’t believe we should be talking about celebrating something when we had nothing won. It’s easy after the fact to say you won the game, but that’s not how football works. You have to stay focussed until it’s won. The hardest part of winning any league is the final part. At the start of the season you understand it’s so far away so you don’t reach for it. But at the end, as it comes closer and closer, you start to reach and it becomes harder to get and we know that from years of experience. So it was never going to be us planning for a celebration when he hadn’t won the league.”
Adam Brennan started in centre midfield and grabbed the first two goals against Sligo exactly when we needed them. He added a completely new dimension to our usual midfield three set up and how good has his first season at this level been?
“Really, really good. I think when you look at the first four months of the season, Adam was the standout player in the league. Then he got an injury which set him back a bit and took him a while to recover. But for him to come from UCD, to the demands here, in terms of playing every few days, travel, Europe, he led that early on. There’s still so much more growth in Adam, we know that, he has a really high ceiling. But he’s been absolutely brilliant and he’ll only get better, he’s a pleasure to work with, his attitude is incredible. We’ve dipped him in and out of the midfield throughout the season and he gives us a different dimension in there, which is really nice to see. We know he can play wide, but it’s great he can also play inside and give us something different.”
On a slightly sadder note in terms of losing them but happy that they are making huge steps forward, Michael Noonan and Victor Ozhianvuna leave for Nottingham Forest and Arsenal respectively when we break up and we all wish them nothing but the best. Again like Adam, for such young players, how well have they done for us?
“It’s really important we thank Michael, Victor and Alex Noonan (who joined Ipswich Town recently), who’ve been here and helped us achieve and get better. Now they move on to the next chapter of their book, next stage of their career. They’re only starting out, they need to stay focussed, stay hungry and keep working hard. If they do that and injuries are kind to them, they have a chance. But it’s important we thank them, they understand that they’re always Rovers, always part of this club and welcome back in Tallaght Stadium. Whether it’s next year, five, ten or fifteen years, they are Rovers and always will be.”
There is however a final league game to fulfil tomorrow, away at Dundalk. It’s imperative we still put in a good performance before we get the league trophy.
“That will be the aim. We will go and try and perform. It’s nice to go there knowing everything is done, the players can enjoy it. We haven’t lifted the trophy away from home in our previous title wins, which is interesting so tomorrow will be a new experience for us. It’s something I’m very much looking forward to.”
Finally, despite the disappointment of an early European exit, is everyone looking forward to a decent break now and can get a proper pre-season under their belt for next season?
“I’ve spoken about it at length, but I think it’s nice we’ll have that break. Not so much us as staff, it’s the players who’ve put so much into it, daily and weekly and have done for the best part of three years. It’s quite normal that fatigue will come with that, mental and physical fatigue. So we’ll get the game done tomorrow, get our trophy and then it’s really important the players get time with their families and friends, switch off and enjoy themselves. We’ll come back refreshed and have our first pre-season in a number of years, which will be really nice.”
