'Not good enough' - No excuses as Bradley passes baton to Shelbourne

Stephen Bradley believes that Shelbourne were deserved winners of the league title and admitted that his side just weren't good enough to win if for the fifth time in a row.

Rovers were playing catch-up throughout a season in which they failed to fire until the latter stages, and while they remained in contention until the last game of the season, it was out of their hands heading into the Waterford encounter.

The Hoops needed to win to have a chance of knocking Shelbourne off top spot, and while they secured the three points in a highly entertaining 2-1 victory over Waterford at Tallaght Stadium, they ultimately had to settle for second as Damien Duff’s side got the win they required in Derry to secure the title.

"It’s disappointing," said Bradley, speaking to RTE Sport after the game. "We’ve done our bit tonight, but it wasn’t enough. You’re always disappointed when you lose the league, and we’ve lost it tonight.

"If we’re been brutally honest, we weren’t good enough, that’s the simple facts, and we lost too many games, conceded too many goals.

"We fought our way back to a decider tonight but over the course of the season, we weren’t good enough."

And while Bradley was disappointed to lose it on the final day of the season, he believes that the right team took the title.

"Shelbourne were good enough and a massive congratulations to Damien, his staff, and Shelbourne football club, well done.

"I think the league is improving year on year, and people like Damien only help that."

Bradley said that he knows where his side went wrong during this campaign, coming off the back of the historic four in a row, however, he was reluctant to perform the post mortem at this juncture.

"We know what happened but now is not the time for that,"