Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley revealed that Rory Gaffney took a pay cut and turned down a two-year contract offer from other clubs to continue his career in Tallaght.
Gaffney was “unplayable” on Thursday night as the 35-year-old’s goals, the second an audacious back-heel, helped Rovers to a 4-1 aggregate defeat of Kosovo side Ballkani.
Josh Honohan scored the third goal with a spectacular volley before a fourth by Graham Burke secured next Thursday’s Uefa Conference League play-off, first leg against Santa Clara in the Azores.
Shelbourne face Linfield in a repeat of their Champions League qualifier from July with the Drumcondra club convincing Uefa that a reduced capacity Tolka Park can host the first leg next Thursday.
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“Rory, when he’s like that he’s unplayable,” said Bradley. “You’ve all seen it, he’s six foot one, loves a fight, can go both sides, can finish. When he’s in that form, defenders don’t know what to do with him.
“When you think of the discussions we had last year, he had contract offers and he said ‘I’m willing to come back, I’m willing to take a pay cut. If I’m injured, I’ll walk away.’
“And he comes back and this is what you get out of him; Michael [Noonan] and John [McGovern] are seeing this and understanding it, not just on the pitch but how he lives his life, to be 35 and performing like that in Europe.”
Not many people take a pay cut in any career, never mind football.
“Not many, no,” Bradley responded. “That kind of summed up the career he had, he could have walked away and into a two-year deal and been comfortable. But he wanted to win things, taste Europe again, win the league, the cup. He is nearly finished, he wants to finish winning things, you have to admire that.
“Now the job will be negotiating with him next year, because he is in the driving seat.”
Bradley was quick to add: “There is no goal bonus!”
The Rovers manager also called for Josh Honohan to be retained in Heimir Hallgrímsson’s Republic of Ireland squad for the World Cup qualification campaign that begins next month at home to Hungary and away to Armenia.
Hallgrímsson was in Tallaght on Thursday to watch Honohan, who he included in the June camp without capping the Cork wing back against Senegal or Luxembourg.
“I have said it from day one, it is not a reaction to the goal,” Bradley continued, “over two legs Josh was our best player by a mile. I think he showed he can play at the elite level. There is no doubt in my mind.
“He is six foot, lightning quick, good quality off both sides, defensively good, I can keep going, he was brilliant. They changed their whole system to try and stop Josh and that unbalanced them elsewhere.”
Robbie Brady missed the start of Preston’s EFL Championship campaign with a calf injury so Honohan appears to be competing with Southampton’s Ryan Manning to start at left-back against Hungary on September 6th.
Rovers travel on an eight-hour, chartered flight to the Azores ahead of Thursday’s first-leg against a Santa Clara squad that includes 17 Brazilians and just nine Portuguese.
“17 Brazilians, yeah, they are a proper team, really athletic and quick. First leg away, over there, we’ll have to perform better than we did last week [losing 1-0 to Ballkani in Kosovo]. But if we take it back here, it’s game on; we seen last year in Tallaght, we’re a match for anybody when we get it right.”
Rovers are guaranteed €3.7 million if they beat Santa Clara and reach the Conference League while Shels will bank €3.8 million if they repeat their 2-1 aggregate result over Linfield from last month.
If the Irish clubs qualify, they are guaranteed six matches against six different European sides running into December, which comes with a €400,000 bonus for each win and €133,000 for a draw.
The League of Ireland premier division champions receive €125,000.
The play-off second legs at Tallaght Stadium and Windsor Park take place on August 28th. Shels and Rovers also agreed to postpone next Friday’s Dublin derby after the FAI purposely fixed the tie in that date to assist their clubs in Europe.
