Rory Gaffney says it was important for Shamrock Rovers to prioritise the league over European results - so that Derry City wouldn’t reap the rewards of a Premier Division title win.
While the Hoops finished bottom of their Europa Conference League group, they still banked just under €4m in UEFA prize money.
And now that they have won their third league title on the trot, they can look forward to competing on the champions’ path in next year’s Champions League.
That offers a much easier route to group stage football - as was the case for Rovers this year.
“I think it’s the most important thing for me that we won the league,” said Gaffney yesterday, as he was named SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month for October.
“I didn’t really care, I wanted to be fresh for the (league games on) Sunday.
“I wanted to win another league and have a crack at the Champions League next year and whatever happens after that in the Europa League or Europa Conference League.
“Obviously Derry are going to be a team that are going to challenge in the next couple of years, they’ve got a good backer.
“The last thing you want to do is give them a leg up, give them a league, and they somehow make group stages and bring in however many millions into an already strong club.
“That could really kick them on. I think it was important that we did it this year.”
It was tough for Rovers to compete at full strength in both domestic and continental competition towards the latter stages of the campaign.
So manager Stephen Bradley often rotated his side when it came to European games against Djurgardens, Gent and Molde.
Gaffney described the closing months of the season as “relentless” and added that it was mentally taxing, as well as physically draining, on the players.
“Normally early in the season, it’s Friday to Friday, you’ve a weekend off and by the time Wednesday or Thursday come, you’re itching to play another match,” he said.
“Whereas in the last three months, you didn’t have time to recover from the last game and you’re already getting ready for the next game.
“It’s just probably a very tough thing mentally.
“Obviously with lads injured, we weren’t able to freshen up as much as we’d like, and away in Europe we weren’t able to have a real good go at it, because we knew the league was the most important.
“It is the most important thing because if you don’t get the champions route, it’s safe to say it’s very difficult to qualify for the group stages.”
Gaffney (33) moved to Rovers from Salford City in 2020, having previously had spells in England with Bristol Rovers and Cambridge United.
His 15 goals, including three strikes and an assist in October, earned him his second ever Player of the Month award, ahead of Shane Farrell (Shelbourne), Mark Dignam (UCD) and Mark Connolly (Derry City).
He reckons he is a better player now thanks to the structures put in place by Rovers’ management, including boss Stephen Bradley.
“It's probably the first time that I've actually, in the last number of years, played for what I would consider a proper team. It's really organised, from back to front,” he said.
“It's just how the manager coaches it - when you're playing for other teams and changing formation, changing the setup during games, we wouldn't really work on it as much.
“But here, the instruction is so clear. I know where the lads are going to be, and they know where I'm going to be. It's just worked well. It's a really good place to play.”
As for the challenge of reaching the group stages again next year, Gaffney said: “I think it is possible but you need the Champions route.
“We were fortunate this year. I can’t remember the teams we could have got this year but I remember everybody saying before training that we wanted Hibs of Malta.
“Thankfully we got through that and then got Shkupi of Malta. The draw was nice to us which shows us the importance of winning the league.”
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