Dan Cleary enjoyed rubbing Stephen Bradley’s nose in it when he scored for Dundalk against Shamrock Rovers after being snubbed by the Hoops.
Four years later, the Rovers boss admits he made a mistake and is happy that his new centre-back is proving him wrong.
Former Liverpool youth Cleary was training with Shamrock Rovers between the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
READ MORE: Top Shamrock Rovers prospect stood down from football over heart issue
He even went to Portugal for a warm-weather, pre-season training camp, but Bradley had some reservations and Dundalk ended up signing the defender instead.
And when the Lilywhites won 5-2 at Tallaght Stadium in the summer of 2018, Cleary scored their second on a night when Rovers fans called for Bradley’s head.
The next day, Cleary tweeted a picture of him racing past Bradley, ears cupped in celebration, with the message ‘DOUBT ME NOW!!’ along with a shush emoji.
But when a spell in Scotland with St Johnstone was cut short for family reasons, Cleary finally made his move to Shamrock Rovers this summer.
And with Roberto Lopes out injured, the 26-year-old has made an instant and impressive impact in the Rovers rearguard with Bradley happy to be proved wrong.
Ahead of tonight’s Europa League clash with Ferencvaros, Bradley laughed about the ‘Doubt me now’ jibe and said: “He was right, to be fair!
“I had one or two doubts about him when we had him in. Slight doubts. I obviously delayed signing him and Dundalk came in and signed him.
“They could offer more at that point in time. But we should still have got him signed and that was a mistake on my behalf. He obviously scored against us and had that celebration, which is only natural. But it was my mistake.”
Quizzed on what those doubts were, Bradley said: “There were just one or two things. Not doubts. He obviously proved me completely wrong. He went and was so successful where he was. Again, just a mistake on my behalf.
“I looked too deeply into it rather than just signing Dan because he was in Portugal with us. I think he did 10 days with us. It was just a mistake that I made.
“Every time we played against him and saw him since, he was the one that I wanted. So I knew I’d make that mistake and I’m delighted to get him in.”
Bradley tried to land Cleary last December, but Cleary wasn’t ready to jump until his family situation changed by the summer and he terminated his St Johnstone contract having joined them in January.
Rovers feel it was worth the wait and Cleary scored on his Hoops debut in the FAI Cup first round win over Bangor Celtic, catching the eye in the back three ever since.
He limped out of Sunday’s win over Dundalk with cramp, but is expected to start against Hungarian giants Ferencvaros at a near sold out Tallaght Stadium tonight.
“I think he adds so many qualities to us. At times we give up crosses which the system is going to do and Dan is really important in that aspect," said Bradley.
“And then his actual footballing ability, stepping in and playing, is one of the reasons why we really liked him. I used to not like playing against him for that reason.
“He’s only going to get better and stronger. You can see straight away, his experience of winning, how he comes into the dressing room. How he’s handled himself.”
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