Stephen Bradley elated as seven-point heaven in Conference League eases Shamrock Rovers' title pain

Stephen Bradley admitted he had been worried about how his players would bounce back from domestic heartache in time for Thursday's UEFA Conference League assignment against The New Saints but was delighted by their response during a 2-1 win over the Welsh side.

Tallaght Stadium had been despondent last Friday night as the Hoops fell short of winning a fifth SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division title in a row despite beating Waterford on the final day.

But their season is not over with the League Phase of the Conference League on the agenda between now and Christmas.

Rovers went into Thursday unbeaten from the first two games in the competition after a draw with Cyprus' APOEL and a win over reigning Northern Irish champions Larne in Belfast.

But since the 4-1 victory over the latter, the league had slipped from their grasp and Bradley was hopeful that the sense of disappointment would not permeate into Europe given what was at stake.

In the end, battling back from a goal down to beat TNS proved the perfect tonic for his squad as the Hoops' manager told RTÉ Sport.

"It's easy for us as staff to move on from the league because we're constantly assessing it and reflecting as we're going but for players, they're in the moment, they live in the moment," he said.

"So it's difficult for them to move on after Friday but I thought they did that really well. It was a little bit of a worry tonight if I'm being honest.

"But I knew after the first five minutes that they were there - mentally and physically they were in a good place and they showed that again tonight."

The victory courtesy of first-half strikes from Johnny Kenny and Dylan Watts which wiped out the concession of an early TNS goal means Rovers are on seven points from a possible