Shamrock Rovers head coach Stephen Bradley has praised midfielder Jack Byrne following his impressive debut for the Republic of Ireland in the friendly win against Bulgaria earlier this month.
Byrne became the 500th player to win a cap with the Boys in Green when he came off the bench at the Aviva Stadium, assisting one goal and he was instrumental in another as Mick McCarthy's team won 3-1.
It came as no surprise to Bradley.
"Jack was excellent," said Bradley. For us, and I'm sure for all of our fans, it comes as no surprise because they've seen it week in and week out. What he did against Bulgaria, we see it on a weekly basis."
The Hoops are gearing up for a Dublin derby SSE Airtricity League clash against St Patrick's Athletic this Friday night, which comes too soon for Neil Farrugia who has still yet to make his debut since transferring from UCD in the summer but Bradley revealed that he isn't far off.
"Neil Farrugia is flying," said Bradley. "He's back in with the team and he's nearly there. I imagine he'll be involved in the next week or two. It was a really bad injury and we just needed to be extra cautious about it.
"Joey O'Brien had been playing with the foot injury for a couple of months now. It's been a bad one but he's been playing through it. But he's not too far away either, only 10 days to two weeks away. Everyone else is OK."
The Saints got off to a good start under new boss Stephen O'Donnell with a Premier Division win at Finn Harps but they were frustrated in a scoreless draw against UCD at home last week.
Bradley admits that they are a bit of an unknown quantity.
"We've just got to be ready for whatever Pat's bring and make sure we're at it. Stephen O'Donnell has come in and I'm sure it's going to give their players a lift. It usually happens for a few weeks where they get a buzz. They'll come to Tallaght looking for a win so we've got to implement our game plan and hit our levels.
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