GRAHAM BURKE reckons a goal against Bohemians helped propel Shamrock Rovers towards dominance.
And he is looking to deliver the goods again tonight to try to keep the Hoops at the top.
Burke scored the opener in an FAI Cup semi-final meeting at Dalymount Park in 2019 with Aaron Greene grabbing an insurance goal late on.
That booked the Hoops’ place in the decider, in which they defeated Dundalk on penalties, before going on to win every league title since.
And that stands out as the highlight of the 19 derby games in which he has played, winning 10, drawing three and losing six.
Bruke recalled: “I’ve been on the end of a few wins and on the end of a few losses. They are big, exciting games and games that you look forward to, packed out stadiums and all that.
“So it’s a massive game and a massive game in the league and probably the one everyone looks forward to.
“Going back, probably the highlight of Bohs-Rovers games for me is obviously the semi-final, getting that over the line in Dalymount and going on to win it and sparking off the success that we’ve had obviously.
“When you get over the line of winning something it gives you that belief. We were chasing a great team in Dundalk at that time.
“I don’t know what our record would have been like in Dalymount, we knew we had lost a few games so it was big going there and to win it.
“That stands out in my mind in terms of how big of a win that was in Bohs-Rovers games.”
But – although Bradley’s Rovers reign began with a win over Bohs in 2016 – he admitted his memory of the encounters since is far from encyclopaedic.
Bradley said: “I was at a quiz there at the start of the year with all the fans, the players were there too, and there were a lot of Rovers questions.
“And I was probably the worse one answering them, and they were all under my term and I got every one of them wrong.
“I said to Glenn Cronin afterwards ‘I’m getting a bit worried here, about my memory’.
Thankfully he said he was the same and Stephen McPhail was the same. I think when you’re in it it’s just review, next game.
“When I come out of it that will be the time to look back on it and think ‘That was a good game to be involved in’ but right now, no.”
Tonight, Alan Reynolds – who had two stints with Rovers as a player – will bid to start his Bohs tenure with a derby win.
And ex-Ireland international Burke says the new boss would be wasting his time trying to get his players to wind him up, even if he admits to playing on the edge.
He said: ‘I know people try to do that. I was sent off against Shels last year but that wasn’t down to that sort of thing.
“Certain things can trigger it, an incident. I go mad and get emotional, and have to try and wind myself back in.
“That’s how I am, how I play football. There is no point in trying to change it, or the manager trying to change.”
RIVAL BOSS
Given Rennie was only able to work with his new squad since returning from international duty.
During his part-time role as Jim Crawford’s assistant with the Ireland Under-21s, Stephen Bradley is not expecting too much different from Bohs.
Bradley said: “How much time he’s had to work with them I don’t know. They obviously had a reaction against Derry and had a good win.
“What hasn’t changed there is, you look at their attacking players, they are good players.
“Dylan Connolly is a real threat, Dayle Rooney we know, they have threats in the attacking areas of the pitch, I’m not sure if they’ve had time to work on anything new but what they have is good players.
“They have always been very dangerous, going back to Keith Long’s days.
“You could see that one of their biggest weapons under Keith, the personnel has changed but they recruited similar, that’s one of their big threats.
“And if you are not good in transition against them, they cause you real problems, we know that and we have to respect that. If you don’t respect that against them, you are in trouble.”