Stephen Bradley says he would rather win the title against Derry City next Sunday than have it handed to them on Monday.
Shamrock Rovers last night made giant strides towards a third league crown in-a-row with a 4-1 come-from-behind win over St Pat’s at a rocking Tallaght Stadium.
And their win was all the sweeter as closest rivals Derry City were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Shelbourne.
It means the Candystripes must win away to Sligo Rovers on Monday, otherwise the Hoops will be crowned champions without even playing.
Rovers boss Bradley insists he won’t be tuning in to watch that game and will be doing his homework on Gent instead.
Bradley said: “I hope (Derry) win to be honest and bring it here next Sunday and we'll have a right go at each other and see what happens.
“You’ve worked so hard to get to this point. If we win it Monday we win it Monday and we will be just as happy as Sunday.
“But it will be nice coming here on Sunday with the first and second going for each other. But I genuinely won’t watch it on Monday.”
In 2020, Bradley says he wasn’t watching when Finn Harps beat Bohemians 2020 to seal the title for Rovers.
“I never watch it,” he said. “Glenn [Cronin, assistant manager] rang me when Finn Harps beat someone? I wasn’t watching. I was in the shower and had loads of missed calls.
“I came out, Glenn asked ‘are you watching?’ I said ‘no, I’m going to bed’. He said ‘you’re not going to bed, put on the game’.
“There were five minutes left in the game and he was saying ‘I don’t know how you do that?’”.
But Bradley insists he will be doing his homework on Belgian giants Gent instead, ahead of Thursday’s penultimate European group stage game.
Rovers’ European campaign has been a disappointment with one point from four games, although Bradley has prioritised the league.
But with €500,000 on the table for a win, Bradley said of the Gent clash: “We’ll try and win it,
“I think Stephen [Kenny] has the record of four points with Dundalk. They won and drew a game so if we can, we’ll aim for that.”
But Bradley praised his players for refusing to panic against St Pat’s last night after going behind to a fourth minute Serge Atakayi goal.
Graham Burke pulled the sides level from the penalty spot before Dan Cleary and Sean Hoare put daylight between the sides, with Burke adding another penalty late on.
Bradley said: “We said to the players there's a lot of noise outside about the title race and to be calm and focus on what we do.
“Just (people) having little, sly pops at us [about being tired] and not understanding that what these players have done this year is hard to do.
“My team talk was different today, completely different. It was private in terms of me and the group.”
On his players staying calm against the Saints, Bradley said: “It's got us to this point, to being the best team in the country and just stay with it no matter what happens.
“When we went one down, you could see there was no panic, no deer in the headlights moments, it was calm. We do what we do and played our way back into the game.”
And Bradley, whose side face UCD in their final game, added: “We've been conscious of keeping the core group together and that's why - they know how to react in situations.”
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