Why limit our expectations, was the message from Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley following tonight's comprehensive 4-1 victory over Larne at Windsor Park.
The Dublin club secured their first victory in the UEFA Conference League to remain unbeaten after two games of their six-match schedule as the Hoops maintain their ambition to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition.
Rovers sit tenth in the table with four points from their opening two games and with 24 of the 36 teams progressing, Bradley’s side are well placed with four games remaining.
The Hoops became the first Irish team to qualify for the group stages of a European competition when Michael O’Neill’s side impressed in the Europa League back in 2011, and now the current league champions are aiming to go one better.
Rovers came into tonight’s game as favourites against the Irish League champions and they lived up to the billing as they raced into an early lead and went three up inside the opening 34 minutes.
Larne hit back early in the second half, however, the Hoops re-emphasised their superiority with a fourth goal to halt any hope of a comeback allowing Bradley’s side to ease down through the gears for the final 30-odd minutes of this one-sided contest.
"It’s all well and good having [a game-plan] but the players have to cross the white line and implement it," said Bradley, speaking at the post match press conference.
"I thought they did that really, really well. They took the fight out of the game, they took the occasion out of the game. That was really important that they did that. I thought they controlled the game from the first minute.
"Graham (Burke), Danny (Mandroiu), Aaron (McEneff), Markus (Poom); them four ran the game, which was really pleasing to see."
Bradley had done his homework on the opposition and revealed that the aforementioned game-plan was to exploit space once Larne pressed.
And the manager admitted that he was never concerned about securing the three points once his side took the early initiative.
"They obviously went with the four tonight and they pressed us," said Bradley. "I felt we could really hurt them if they pressed us like I thought they would, and they did and we exploited those spaces really well.
"When you have the four I mentioned earlier, Danny, Graham, Markus and Aaron, when you have those four, they are seeing the spaces really clearly and the pockets, and they are penetrating. How Larne pressed, we knew we could pick them off. I knew where our team was and I knew they were ready.
"No, I don’t mean that in any sort of arrogant or disrespectful way to Larne," said Bradley, when asked did he feel any stress throughout the 90 minutes.
"I know where these players are. You get a feeling for it in the dressing room and the last few weeks. The second part of the season they come alive, they stick their chest out and embrace it.
"When you put them on a pitch like that, in a big stadium, they just grow. There was never a moment in the game. Even after Larne scored, the players were calm and got back into their stride. I think that comes with experience and understanding what we do works. We’re disappointed with the goal we gave away but there was never a moment I was worried for the group."
Burke, in particular, showed his true class in the game as he had a role in all four goals, completing the performance with a fine individual effort to hit the final goal after seizing on a mistake at the back.
And the manager said that he felt that the attacker was back to his best, likening his performance to the time when he earned a call-up to the Ireland squad.
"If you’re going on just tonight, I thought he was different level," said the manager. "It was the Graham that got the international call-up them years back.
"This year has been frustrating for him, he’s had little niggles here and there but you know you get Graham right, you get him fit and you get him on a pitch like that, a big pitch, he can do that to anyone, we have seen that through the years.
"He was doing everything that was right in the game, he was making the right decisions at the right moments, understanding when to stay in the pocket, jump out, when to penetrate, when to dribble, it was just the first 60 minutes was really high level."
Bradley previously aimed for a seven-point tally at the start of the league phase – a number believed to be sufficient to take the team through to the knockout stages.
But now with two games gone, Rovers can hit the target in their next game, which is a home tie against Welsh side TNS, and now Bradley believes that there is no limit to his side’s expectations ahead of the final four games.
"We got to go and try to get as many as possible," said Bradley. "We don’t want to say seven and then we are stopped.
"If we can go and get ten, then let’s go and do it. We want to qualify out of the first phase, that’s been one of our aims. We have given ourselves a chance now.
"Why not? Why can’t it be our aim. Let’s go and try and do it yeah," he added, when asked if Rovers could qualify directly for the last 16 – a feat that would require a top-eight finish in the table.
"I don’t see why we should put a limit on what we can do here. European football is tough, if you get it wrong on the night, you get beat. They punish mistakes but if you get it right…
"We’ve put ourselves in a really strong position so why limit our expectations on what we can do? We’ve never been a group to shy away from expectations and our standards and we don’t start now. We’ve put ourselves in a position to qualify automatically so let’s try and do it."
Rovers now move into Sunday's league clash with Dundalk on a real high and will look to maintain their push for a historic five league titles in a row.
And the manager spoke with pride about how the ever-achieving side can maintain their quest to remain at the top of the pile after so much success in recent years.
"This team is a special team," said Bradley. "This team has been challenging for the best part of seven years.
"Chasing down Dundalk, one of the best teams we’ve seen in the country, chasing them down, overtaking them and then setting the standards.
"You can’t underestimate what that takes out of you mentally and physically. That means showing up every day, every minute of every day, not just when you’re training, it means living your life right for a long period of time, and these players deserve tremendous credit for sustaining them standards.
"You can see tonight there’s so much left in the group, it’s up to me to keep evolving and making them better and keep coming up with different ideas to keep challenging them, but them as men and characters, there’s so much hunger in that dressing room which is really pleasing to see."
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