'A wake-up call' - Relieved Bradley praises St Pat's

Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley was scathing in his assessment of his side's performance against St Patrick’s Athletic in the President’s Cup.

In blustery conditions at Tallaght Stadium, Rovers were well off the pace, particularly in the first half when Alan Mannus kept them in the game with a string of fine saves.

St Pat’s made the breakthrough after the break when Eoin Doyle scored in typical fashion with a poacher’s goal. However, Rovers skipper Ronan Finn punished an unfortunate mistake by Saints’ new goalkeeper Joseph Anang to equalise.

The returning Jack Byrne and Mannus were the shootout heroes as Rovers won 5-4 on penalties, but afterwards Bradley admitted that the result was harsh on the Saints.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport, he said: "I’m delighted to win it, because we didn’t deserve to win it. There were terrible conditions and everything else but, I’m delighted we won it.

"Pat’s were the better team and if they had have been 2-0 or 3-0 up, we couldn’t have complained.

"I thought we were terrible. We were really sloppy in everything we did, we were really disjointed, didn’t look focused, although our changes did bring a bit of life to us."

Bradley credited the introduction of three substitutes on the hour mark with changing the game, as Rory Gaffney, Richie Towell and Graham Burke all came on off the bench.

"The changes were very important and that was the case last year too. We needed everyone, we needed the squad and we’re going to need that this year if we’re going to win and compete for things.

"We were very poor up until the changes to be fair to the players who came on, they were very good and they gave us the energy and the bit of quality that we needed."

Bradley was asked whether his side’s performance was a