Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley admits an 18-day break ahead of tomorrow's Conference League showdown against Shakhtar Donetsk has made a tough task even harder, but backed his double winners to rise to the occasion at Tallaght Stadium.
The Hoops last played on Sunday 9 November, when they beat Cork City 2-0 in the Sports Direct FAI Cup final. By then the league title had been safely wrapped up, Bradley's men getting over the line despite a stuttering October period.
Now, they welcome a formidable Shakhtar Donetsk outfit to Dublin as they search for a win that would keep alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the competition for the second year in a row.
"It's not ideal, not having competitive games in between big games like this against top-class opposition," Bradley told RTÉ Sport.
"But it is what it is, we can't change it. We did it last year, so we know what it feels like. It's not new to us, but it's still not ideal. In an ideal world, we'd be playing a competitive game leading into this, which obviously gets you ready, but there's nothing we can do.
"They had a few days off, I think it was important. It's been extremely hectic the last two months. We were basically living together for a period of time, so it was important we gave them time away from each other.
"When you think about the quick turnaround we have at the end of this campaign, it's important you catch up wherever you can in between. This gave us a little break back in last week, getting training and getting ready for this game."
One man who will not be part of the action is Danny Mandroiu, who's facing into a long recovery process after suffering an ACL injury during the cup final.
"Yeah, he was in today, it was good to see him," Bradley said.
"Danny's a positive guy in general and he'll do his work, he'll come back stronger. But right now he's hurting, which is quite normal. He was getting back to his best form, I think that was quite clear to see.
"To pick up that injury is not ideal, but like I said, he's in good shape, he carries no weight and that will stand to him in this process. He'll come back a better player for it, it's just going to be a difficult road at times and we're going to have to support him.
"Hopefully it's mid-season next year (when he returns), all going well. Like I said, this is his first major injury he's had and he'll be fine. Right now it's difficult for all of us, him, us, but we'll support him and get him back stronger than ever."
In other injury news, Aaron McEneff picked up a knock in training and is out. Max Kovalevskis suffered a concussion in action for the Republic of Ireland at the Under-17s World Cup and is also unavailable for what Bradley said is the biggest test of Rovers' Conference League campaign to date.
"They're definitely the toughest team we will face so far this year," he added.
"They're a really good team, threats all over the pitch, they can hurt you in different ways. But this is why we want to play at this level, and in these competitions you want to test yourself against this level of opposition.
"They have a brilliant pedigree in Europe throughout the years, and we know tomorrow is a difficult challenge. But again, this is why we're in it, this is why we work so hard to play opposition like this and test ourselves against it.
"We know they're a very good team, we know we have to be at our very best to go and get a positive result tomorrow. But we've also seen in Tallaght throughout the years that if we're at our best, we can have special nights here, and that'll be the aim."
