JACK BYRNE ‘is looking back to his best’ and just in the nick of time for Shamrock Rovers.
The Ireland international has been dogged by calf and stomach injuries since late May but has been patiently stepping up his return with five appearances in the last month.
And Byrne - along with two goal hero Neil Farrugia - caught the eye in this 5-1 demolition of bottom side Finn Harps at a subdued Tallaght Stadium.
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Byrne scored a close range tap-in to complete the rout but played a leading role in both of Farrugia’s goals.
And the playmaker will hope that he has done enough to play his way back into the team for Thursday’s European group stage game away to Gent in Belgium.
Hoops boss Stephen Bradley said: “It was great to get Jack 90 minutes.
“We have managed him for the last few weeks but we feel he is now at a stage where he’s ready to play.
“He needs to get his rhythm and it was good to get that 90 and hopefully that is him in now until the end of the season
“He was out for nearly four months and the way he plays it’s all in his head, twisting and turning and you have to be patient and careful when you get him back.
“When you see his GPS, he does so much explosive stuff the way he plays and we had to be really careful in how we managed him. But you can see he looked back to himself.”
Bradley was also gushing in his praise of Farrugia who scored his first Rovers goals in two years having been dogged by injuries in that time.
But Finn Harps didn’t know how to handle the giant winger’s pace and power, cutting in from the right flank, and he opened the scoring after eight minutes.
Bradley said: “I thought we were very good considering we played on Thursday and the crowd was down in terms of numbers and the occasion.
“It’s very easy to drop your standards. But I thought we were very good and the early goal settled us.
“Neil was very good but has been like that for the last eight weeks and had a real impact on the team.
“I was delighted for him that he got his goals but his all round game, he seems to be right on top of it at the moment.”
Harps were furious that Rovers were awarded a penalty when Aaron Greene went down until a Ryan Rainey challenge.
It did look soft but Rory Gaffney converted nine minutes before the break to put the Hoops in pole position.
Boss Ollie Horgan said: “5-1 is 5-1 and there is no hiding place but the penalty, what was it for?.”
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