Former Ireland, St Patrick’s Athletic and Drogheda United midfielder Keith Treacy believes the SSE Airtricity League authorities should have pushed back Shamrock Rovers’ fixture against Derry City.
Both sides met at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium on Friday in what proved to be a scoreless stalemate.
For Shamrock Rovers, it came between two Europa League away trips.
Last Tuesday they beat KF Shkupi in North Macedonia to reach the play-off round – guaranteeing themselves the minimum of Europa Conference League group stage participation – and they play the first leg of that upcoming tie against Hungarian champions Ferencvaros in Budapest on Thursday.
The Hoops had sought to have the Derry City game pushed back by 24 hours from its Friday night slot, but manager Stephen Bradley expressed disappointment that the league did not acquiesce to that request.
“For some reason the league saw fit not to help us and I think that’s really, really poor from the league and the people making the decisions and it needs to be looked at,” Bradley said post-match on Friday.
Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer PodcastTreacy felt that the fixture should have been delayed by a day to help the continental progress of the only Irish club remaining in European competition this season.
Gary Rogers and Keith Treacy discussed the LOI and Shamrock Rovers v Ferencvaros on this week’s podcast above.
“The league should have stepped in and pushed it back,” he said.
“I understand Derry’s point of view. We all do. If you’re in that Derry dressing room, you think you might be able to catch Shamrock Rovers coming to Derry a little bit tired and with sore legs. That’s fair enough.
“The rest of us, the league, the people from the outside looking in, the neutral are all thinking that surely this is going to be put back.
“I think Stephen Bradley’s right. The league had to show a little bit of leadership and help them out.
“I know Derry want to play them but we’re all pushing in the same direction. We all want the league to get better and we all want the league to get more exposure.
“Shamrock Rovers getting a little rest, trying to help themselves in Europe, like Gary (Rogers) said they’ll have a lot of games in Europe now with the group stages coming up.
“The league should have stepped in and pushed it back”
Keith Treacy shares his view on whether Derry City v Shamrock Rovers should have been pushed back by 24 hours
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“There won’t be too much time now to actually fiddle around with the fixtures. This was one of the chances that they had to fiddle around and give them a little bit of a break.
“They haven’t done it and I have to say Shamrock Rovers will be okay domestically. They’ll win the league anyway and have a strong enough squad and big enough squad.
“But I do think it is poor from the league. They should have stepped in and (delayed the game) 24, 48 hours, whatever it is.
“But I do understand Derry’s point of view and I’ve no qualms with what they’re saying. If I was in the Derry dressing room, I would have been saying the exact same thing. But for me the league should have stepped in and that’s really poor from the league.”
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