Stephen Bradley: 'Swinging out at somebody is not acceptable'

Stephen Bradley was left frustrated as Shamrock Rovers missed an opportunity to move within three points of Bray Wanderers as they were held to a 1-1 draw by St Patrick's Athletic on Friday.

The Hoops had taken an early lead through Graham Burke, the winter recruit from Notts County in England, who showed his class to punish a rare defensive error from the visitors.

Burke showed the other, less classy, side of his game 13 minutes from time when, with the sides level, he was shown a straight red card for a wild kick in the direction of Saints' Pat Cregg.

He did so mere yards from the Rovers management team of Bradley and Glen Cronin, and Bradley appeared at a loss to explain why one of his star performers had reacted in such a way.

“Graham is a big player for us,” Bradley told reporters after the game. “That's not acceptable. What he did there tonight is not good enough. You can't lash out like that.

“If he goes in for a tackle and the ref sees it as a sending off, that's football, but that there is not acceptable.

The striker was sent off in similar circumstances on his Rovers debut in Dundalk on the opening day of the season.

Burke scored his first goal for the club shortly after his introduction but was dismissed moments later for kicking former Pats midfielder Jamie McGrath on the ground.

“Tackles aren't a problem for me. That's going to happen again throughout the season. People are going to get sent off for tackles.

“Davey [McAllister]'s, I'll take that, because that's part of football. But we can't accept that.

“Swinging out at somebody is not acceptable because it's a lack of discipline and you're letting your teammates down. Sendings-off will happen and they'll continue to happen – that's football.”

The upshot for Bradley is that he'll now have to plan without Burke for the next month, including the two-week break that begins today.

The Dubliner could get more than the three-game ban handed out for his first sending-off as it's a repeat offence, although he won't find out until the disciplinary committee meets later this month.

“If you look at our recent games, Graham's been outstanding. Tonight, certain things didn't happen and certain things did happen.

“The disappointing thing now for me is that he's missing for a few games. It's not ideal.”