STEPHEN BRADLEY has said that Shamrock Rovers are taking it slow with Danny Mandroiu’s return to avoid any risk of a repeat injury.
Mandroiu has been absent since the opening game of the league season with a hamstring problem though is now close to a return.
And while the talented attacker is badgering Bradley to get back on the pitch, the Hoops’ boss said Rovers’ staff are holding him back for now.
Bradley said: “We’re going to just delay Danny. I would imagine we could push Danny for Galway (on Friday), but we won’t.
“We’ve played six games. We just don’t want to push him and miss him for a long period, especially with April when we’ve six games.
“So we’ll take our time with Danny. But he’s just there, he’s annoying me to get back in and wants to be involved. But we’re going to hold him off a bit.”
While Mandriou will be held back, Bradley is delighted that Jack Byrne is speeding up his own return to fitness.
The midfielder has had an injury interrupted campaign last year and also missed some of pre-season.
But he came on for the entire second half of Friday’s 0-0 draw with Derry City when the Hoops were down to ten men, having played 18 and 19 minutes in the two previous games.
And Bradley was delighted with his performance as he builds up his fitness and sharpness.
He said: “Jack was excellent, I thought he looked really sharp, we need to keep building that, that’s 45 now, which is probably a little bit sooner than we wanted but he’s done it now.
“And you could see he is moving again free, he’s checking, he looks to be getting back there which is really good to see.”
