“WOW!” exclaimed Shamrock Rovers boss Michael O’Neill shortly after watching his side move to the top of the Premier Division table thanks to Padraig Amond’s late goal at Tallaght last night; “Now we’ve got something to lose.”
The three points earned against last year’s champions, however, means that his team are now in the driving seat as they look to win the club’s 16th league title and its first in a decade and a half.
“Well, we’re top but it’s just three points and I’m sure Pat is in there now telling his players that if they win their last six games then they’ll still win the title. They’ll be expecting us to slip up and it’s up to us to make sure that it doesn’t happen.
“The important thing right now is that we’ve got ourselves to this position and we’ve done that because when everyone was saying that we wouldn’t be good enough, that we wouldn’t be ready, we didn’t react . . . we just got on with trying to win matches.
“We took 15 points from our first nine games, though, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we have to take all 18 from our last six if we’re really to stay ahead of Bohemians and win the league.
“As things stand now, we’ve won nothing but it pleasing that in our games with Bohemians we’ve shown steady progress. They were comfortably better than us when they beat us three games into the season and we beat them with a bit of a smash and grab operation in the last game here but we deserved our point over there the last time and I think we deserved the win tonight.
“I’m delighted for the players and for Padraig in particular because I think by his own admission, this hasn’t been the best of seasons for him. He’s a player who is always capable of getting a goal for you, though, and he’s worked very hard. He’s had to be patient because he hasn’t had a lot chances due to the lads that have come in to the club but he did well tonight to come on and take his chance.”
With Gary Twigg a doubt for next week's trip to Derry after limping out of last night's game, Amond may get another chance to impress at the Brandywell. "It'll be a huge lift for him and he might get a few more chances to play over the coming weeks."- Emmet Malone
