Michael Noonan compared to League of Ireland legends as Stephen Bradley hails 16-year-old's maturity and movement
MICHAEL NOONAN reminds Stephen Bradley of some of the greatest League of Ireland strikers in their pomp.
The 16-year-old scored for the second time in 72 hours when he got the ball rolling in
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Michael Noonan of Shamrock Rovers celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the clash against St Patrick's Athletic
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Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradey hailed Michael Noonan for his maturity at such a young age
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Bradley said: 'It's hard at times to understand that he's only 16 years old because he's playing against three good experienced centre-backs.
'He caused them all sorts of problems with his movement. He was almost unplayable. His understanding of when to come to feet and when to go down the sides, to just be strong and then his finish.
'Most players going around the keeper would slash at it with their right foot but he had the calmness to come back out and slide it into the net.
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'Sometimes we forget he's 16. The improvement in him since he came in the door until now.
"He was a good player but he's gotten better and better. That's down to his mentality, his desire to want to be a player, take information and work at it.
'We have to drag him off the training pitch every day. He's a joy to work with.
'His goal in Waterford was a difficult first-time finish and here that move was on and he kept running. If you keep making that run, you'll get lucky and he did.
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'His movement was like an experienced professional, a throwback to Jason Byrne and Glen Crowe. For a 16-year-old it was really high level.'
Byrne is second in the league's all-time scoring charts with 217 goals from 19 seasons in the league with Crowe seventh with 159 from 12 campaigns. Both were capped by Ireland.
Stephen Bradley hails teen history-maker Michael Noonan as Shamrock Rovers take control in Europa Conference play-off
Bradley said: 'He's ready to play which is what I said when we got him. He was ready from the first season of pre-season.
'Sometimes you have to check yourself to remember he's 16, understand the potential and ceiling he has. What he's doing now is top class.'
At 28, Dylan Watts - who made his 250th appearance for Rovers on Monday - is further along in his career with Bradley keen to ensure he makes many more.
He said: 'We are hoping Dylan sees out his career here, that is the plan and we are working on that as a club at the moment. We hope we can get that done.
'Last year he was player of the year and deservedly so. He is a special player and 250 at the level he has played at shows how he has really matured.Hopefully there will be many more.'
This was Rovers' fourth straight win which moved them five points clear but Bradley said: 'We're around too long to say this is a statement win.
"It's about hitting our levels and I've always said that we get better from this point on.
'The squad is in a really good place. We took three from Friday's starting XI out of the squad .
'We got Danny Mandroiu, Dylan and Aaron McEneff back on the pitch. You see us go up a level when that happens.
'I'm happy with the clean sheets. The wins are important but I was never in doubt about scoring goals. We're always up there as the highest scorers.
'We've got to keep clean sheets. We've got back to that which is pleasing. We need to stay focused, work hard and get ready for Derry.'
Bradley said the artificial pitch in Derry will be a factor in selection on Friday.
He said: 'It will be a little bit but it's more the load on the players in terms of who's done what
'What Derry have is very similar to St Pat's, their attacking players can win games and score goals and that is what they have done.
'They get the crowd involved for their home games, it is always a cracking atmosphere up there.
'And we enjoy that pitch, I know it is an astro but it's a big pitch and we like it. It should be a good game, between two good teams.'
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