TALLAGHT Stadium will host the biggest crowd for a League of Ireland match in 33 years tonight.
And Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley has insisted that five-figure crowds – which only the Dublin 24 venue can cater for – should become the norm rather than the exception.
Tonight’s derby against Bohemians will be the first since the North Stand opened to bring the capacity over 10,000, with the few remaining tickets for the East Stand snapped up on Thursday night.
It will be the largest attendance since 12,000 crammed into Turner’s Cross on the final day of the 1990-91 season as Tom McNulty’s goal saw Dundalk crowned league champions at Cork City’s expense.
Rovers’ average attendance in 2016 – when Bradley took over midway through the season – was 1,869 which has now more than trebled.
And he said: “It’s something we have worked towards for quite some time.
“We have built it as a club up to a place where the average is really good, now we have the stadium.
“It will be brilliant to see it sold out, for everyone involved in the league, it shows where we can go, if you have the right facilities.
“But it’s up to us now as a club and the league as a whole, when the facilities are provided, to build on that and make sure it’s not a one-off, make sure we have this regularly and that’s our aim.
“It can’t be once or twice a season, it has to be on a regular basis and I firmly believe we can do that. I believe a lot of clubs around the league can, if facilities are there and in a good place.”
Last season’s FAI Cup final, between Bohs and St Pat’s, attracted an all-time record crowd of 43,881.