Rory Gaffney insists it is business as usual for Shamrock Rovers

Rory Gaffney insists it is business as usual for champions Shamrock Rovers after Stephen Bradley rejected Lincoln City.

And the Hoops striker claims it would have been that anyway even had Bradley accepted the offer from the League One club.

After a week of talks with Imps officials who travelled to Dublin, Bradley told the champions on Thursday night that he was staying put.

And 24-hours later, he was celebrating a dominant 3-1 victory over Finn Harps in Tallaght that could have been double that.

Rovers are back in action tonight when they host Sligo Rovers in a game brought forward from July when both clubs will be in European action.

And it is Shamrock Rovers’ second of three home matches in a week, with a mouthwatering top-two clash with Derry City to come on Friday.

It was early last week when Gaffney learned of Bradley’s talks with Lincoln and said: “We trained in the morning, went home and, like everyone, it’s what you read online.

“But as players, it doesn’t matter. Obviously it’s great that he’s saying but we still have a job to do.

“We’re still trying to win the league, we’re still trying to have a run at Europe, and a cup run, it doesn’t matter who the manager is.”

Galway man Gaffney continued: “He said to us on Thursday that if there was anything to be said, he would tell us.

“Then Friday morning, we were let know that he was staying. He told us before it broke so we knew he was staying. We all knew as we got a WhatsApp message.

“He said he wasn’t leaving, he was staying and that the focus was on Friday night. He’s good like that.

“We were not focused on Derry next Friday or Sligo tonight, we were focused on Finn Harps and nothing else.”

But Gaffney insists the professionalism in the dressing room means the players would have coped with the fallout had Bradley jumped ship to League One.

“It’s one of those things where you have a job to do,” he explained. “What’s it like in your work when someone leaves? Do you care?

“When someone leaves, you wish them the best. He’s done great here, and if he decided to move on, you wish him the best and focus on Monday.

“All I worried about last week was training well, resting and recovering and being ready to go against Harps on Friday.”

But Bradley’s decision appeared to galvanise Rovers in that match – and the champions are playing with a swagger not seen earlier in the year.

They only faced Sligo 10 days ago, drawing 1-1 at the Showgrounds, but Gaffney has feels performances have improved.

“We’ve been getting better in recent weeks,” he said of a 10-game unbeaten run that includes seven wins. “We were slow to start but had a great month.

“We’re on a great run and if we’re unbeaten by the time the (mid-season) break comes around, I think we’ll be in a great position.

“We only played Sligo ten days ago and they have proven to be tricky for us. But it’s good to be playing them again as we’ll get the rest in July during the European games.

“You’d rather be fresh in July and play Sligo tonight.”

On Friday, Rovers boss Bradley declared that he wants to ‘finish what he started’ at Shamrock Rovers.

And asked ahead of tonight’s clash what that entails, Bradley said: “We just need to improve on what we did last year.

“We want to fight on all fronts – the league, the cup and Europe. Let’s go as far as we can in all competitions.”

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