Former St Patrick's Athletic winger Conan Byrne has hailed Stephen Bradley's "extraordinary" resolve in 2022, guiding Shamrock Rovers to a third successive Premier Division, while dealing with his son Josh's illness.
Sunday evening was party-time for the Hoops, the southside kingpins hoisting the Premier Division trophy aloft once again, their 20th league title overall and the third of Bradley's reign.
Presented with the league trophy following the 1-0 win over nearest rivals Derry City, captain Ronan Finn lifted it jointly with Josh Bradley, the Hoops' manager's eight-year old son, who has been receiving treatment for leukaemia.
On an emotional night, Bradley told RTÉ Sport afterwards that he had asked the players to win the title for his son.
Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer podcast, Byrne, a Premier Division winner with St Pat's in 2013, marvelled at how Bradley had carried himself throughout the season.
"I don't know how he's got through the season. For everything that's gone on, both on the pitch but obviously off it as well. It's just incredible.
"For a man to be able to go about his business, and to get another league winning team and the squad of players that he would have had to manage really, really well. And then to go home from training every single day to fight another battle with his son, it's truly extraordinary.
"It goes to show the togetherness that team has. He asked them to win the league for Josh and they've done that. Ten points clear of second place, one defeat in 15 in the league. 29 games without defeat at home in Tallaght.
"He asked them to win the league for Josh and they did that in spades"
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"It's incredible what Stehen Bradley and his backroom team have done. Special credit must be given to the likes of Stephen McPhail, Glen Cronin and all the backroom team. But there is one man there on that pedestal and who is there to be shot at."
While the league concludes with a fairly low-stakes encounter with UCD - already bound for the promotion-relegation playoff - at the Belfield Bowl next Sunday, the champions have one more fairly important engagement, their final Europa Conference League group game against Djurgardens in Sweden today, with one more chance to add to their points tally.
Justin Ferizaj and Sean Kavanagh are suspended while Bradley said Rovers have "a few injuries, and we will be down three or four tomorrow".
Rovers earned one of their two points so far with a draw against the Swedes at Tallaght Stadium in September.
"We felt that we could have won it, but Djurgardens will be a different proposition in this stadium on their home pitch," said Bradley.
"We know that it is a difficult game, but we don't have to save ourselves for anything, we can have a right go at the game.
Byrne feels the club still have a point to prove in Europe in the years ahead but the league, as Bradley insisted in the face of criticism in 2022, remained the priority.
"He's had a bit of negative publicity in terms of their European adventures. Truth be told, they're still a bit off on that. They did well to get to where they are, they managed to pick up a couple of points (in the Europa Conference League).
"But they did what they needed to do. And that's to win the league again and have another go at Europe next year. Hats off to Stephen Bradley because it's a massive achievement for him."
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