Shamrock Rovers 'physically and mentally' ready to defend league title - Stephen Bradley

Stephen Bradley wanted to use the President's Cup final to see if his side are in the right place to begin their league title defence next weekend.

And the answer was an emphatic yes, as the Hoops coasted past St Patrick’s Athletic in the season opener at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night as Rovers beat the FAI Cup holders 3-1.

In fact, Bradley’s men proved too good for Jon Daly’s unit twice, as Rovers dominated the first half, before making wholesale changes to the starting eleven at the break as five players were introduced for the start of the second half.

And that "second string" Rovers unit, blasted the Saints out of the contest thanks to two Trevor Clarke goals and a fine header from Josh Honahan, making his competitive debut for the Dublin club, having signed from Cork City during the close season.

Not forgetting, of course, a host of top players who were not available for the game on Friday night, including Roberto Lopes, who has been away helping Cape Verde reach the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, star midfielder Jack Byrne, the returning Aaron McEneff, and the attacking instincts of Graham Burke, who was an unused substitute.

"In this game, win or lose, you're always looking to assess are you ready mentally and physically for next week and I felt we were. We're in a good place," said Bradley, speaking to the press after the game.

"We had to look at minutes. Some players missed weeks. We had Darragh [Burns] in who hasn't played a lot of football," added the Hoops boss, who had said before the game that he had already made his decisions about what subs would be used in order to manage players’ game time.

"It's about getting the mix right. You don't want injuries and you want to see if mentally and