Stephen Bradley wanted to use the President's Cup final to see if his side are in the right place to begin their league title defence next weekend.
And the answer was an emphatic yes, as the Hoops coasted past St Patrick’s Athletic in the season opener at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night as Rovers beat the FAI Cup holders 3-1.
In fact, Bradley’s men proved too good for Jon Daly’s unit twice, as Rovers dominated the first half, before making wholesale changes to the starting eleven at the break as five players were introduced for the start of the second half.
And that "second string" Rovers unit blasted the Saints out of the contest thanks to two Trevor Clarke goals and a fine header from Josh Honahan, making his competitive debut for the Dublin club, having signed from Cork City during the close season.
Not forgetting, of course, a host of top players who were not available for the game on Friday night, including Roberto Lopes, who has been away helping Cape Verde reach the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, star midfielder Jack Byrne, the returning Aaron McEneff, and the attacking instincts of Graham Burke, who was an unused substitute.
"In this game, win or lose, you're always looking to assess are you ready mentally and physically for next week and I felt we were. We're in a good place," said Bradley, speaking to the press after the game.
"We had to look at minutes. Some players missed weeks. We had Darragh [Burns] in who hasn't played a lot of football," added the Hoops boss, who had said before the game that he had already made his decisions about what subs would be used in order to manage players’ game time.
"It's about getting the mix right. You don't want injuries and you want to see if mentally and physically they are in the right place.
"I felt from the very start they were, which is great to see."
The league campaign starts next weekend with the champions hosting Dundalk at Tallaght Stadium, and while last season’s slow start to the campaign proved immaterial, as Rovers eventually secured that coveted and record-equalling fourth league title in a row, this time around, the Hoops look set to hit the ground running.
"We won the fourth league, so that pressure is gone," said Bradley with a smile, when asked had he made any changes during pre-season this time around.
"We've given them a longer break than they've ever had," he added.
"I think last year mental fatigue set in. We played the most amount of games in a short space of time (at the end of the 2022 season) and then only had three weeks off.
"I felt that caught us at some points throughout last year. They're not a group to down tools or don't try but if you're reviewing yourself I felt it was a mistake by me not to give them enough time off last year.
"So pre-season just gone, we've given them seven weeks which is a long break. They haven't had that for some time, so they've come back fresh.
"We've also tweaked certain things at the start, Eoin [Donnelly, S&C coach] needs to take credit for that.
"I felt last year looking through the games, some the goals we conceded, some of the sending offs we had and just the decisions we made, was down to the pressure of four [titles] and then mental fatigue.
"We could fix both of them by winning the league and making sure we got a good break."
And with so many Rovers regulars sitting out the start of the President’s Cup final, it was a chance for the extended squad to stake a claim for more minutes on the pitch ahead of the drive for five titles in a row, and Bradley was beaming at some of the performances from his fringe players.
The Rovers manager said watching young prospect Conan Noonan playing was pure joy and it reminded him of someone just playing with his mates in the playground.
"I don't know if you noticed but he was taking the corners with his right and his left," said Bradley, when asked about the player’s performance.
Noonan proved instrumental throughout the contest, with his defence-splitting pass to set up Clarke for his first goal, perhaps, the most impressive play of the entire 90 minutes.
"Conan is one I've been talking about for quite some time now. Some issues have held him back but from the back end of last season until now he has been good, in terms of training all of the time. He is probably the most naturally gifted player, both footed, that you will see. He's ready to play," said Bradley.
"It's not about age, profile, experience, if you're ready, you're ready, and Conan is ready. If I was one of the midfielders, I'd be looking over my shoulder because he's ready to go."
Noonan’s journey to the Rovers first team has been long and winding, having felt the full effect of long Covid, which meant that his return to competitive action had to be managed very carefully.
But now Bradley is hoping that is all behind him and is relishing what the young prospect can bring to the team, adding that he had not seen someone as natural playing with both feet since his own playing days at Arsenal, where David Bentley was also coming through.
Bentley went on to have a fine Premier League career with Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham, while he was also capped seven times for England, and Bradley feels that Noonan’s future can bring a similar path.
"Conan is mentally really strong and resilient, he’s had to show that time and time again in the last two years, because there are times in training you just stand back and applaud some of the stuff he can do, really.
"I don’t think I’ve seen a player as naturally…if I go back, it’s David Bentley. I remember playing with Bents and he could do silly things with both feet and just so natural.
"Conan’s playing with that smile on his face, he’s playing with that freedom, there is nothing better as a coach and manager when you look at a player and see them playing like they’re playing in the school playground with their friends, with that freedom. And that’s what he looked like tonight."
Bradley was also full of praise for the energetic midfielder Darragh Nugent, who he likened to a young Chris Shields, while also speaking highly about Honahan, following his goalscoring debut.
"When we bring players in and identity what we want, we need to make sure we’re not blocking paths of what’s just there.
"Darragh has done it the hard way, he’s gone on loan to Longford and Drogheda, done really well and he’s done well for us as well. You can see he’s a man now, starting in midfield and then ended up right wing back.
"He’s completely different to what we have and that’s why we really like him. He reminds me of a young Chris Shields actually.
"Josh started left centre back and played there left footed and went right centre back and went right footed.
"Again we identified Josh very, very early last year and watched him in great detail. Every time he played against us, I really liked him.
"We just need to help him with the finer details and his habits, the thing I love about Josh is he wants to learn, he wants to get better, he wants to take the information, he’s always questioning videos, what is he playing this way, why we’re asking to stand in different positions.
"Since he’s been a schoolboy he’s told the opposite, so it’s going to take time to get him there. But I think you seen tonight why we wanted him here. We like him."
