Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley is happy with how his squad is taking shape ahead of the new campaign, despite losing some key players.
Jack Byrne and Aaron McEneff are Bradley's most high-profile exits, with Byrne leaving on a free transfer to APOEL and McEneff joining Hearts for €200,000.
While Bradley was disappointed to lose players of that caliber, he admitted that it’s one of the prices to pay for success in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division and he’s confident that Rovers can cope.
"There’s been a lot of interest in Aaron for a long, long time," he said of McEniff’s move. "We are a really strong group and we’ll be fine.
"We’ve lost two really good players, one an international and one will soon be an international, but that’s the way it goes sometimes, in this country especially. When you’re successful, that’s what happens."
Bradley has made some promising signings as he seeks to defend his side’s league title, with Chris McCann, Sean Gannon, Sean Hoare and Daniel Mandroiu all coming in.
The Rovers boss admits that he is still looking to bring one more player if possible, but he’s pleased with the way his squad is developing.
"I think we’ve got five out in terms of Greg [Bolger], Danny [Lafferty], Rhys [Marshall], Aaron and Jack," he said.
"Out of the main squad that was playing every week we’ve lost five and brought in four. If we can add one more, the right one, we’ll look to do so but we’re not in any rush. We’re pretty happy with the group."
Regardless of whether or not Bradley gets another body in, he’s confident that his side have enough about their to mount a strong title defence.
"I think this group is more than ready for it," he said. "It will be a nice challenge, it will be nice being the team everyone wants to beat, but I think that’s been the case for quite some time, to be honest.
"We just have to go and enjoy what we do, and enjoy winning games and working hard, because we will have to work hard."
