{"id":1089933,"date":"2026-07-15T03:32:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T03:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1089933\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T03:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T03:32:22","slug":"stephen-bradley-tips-champions-league-goalscorer-for-northern-ireland-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1089933\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Bradley tips Champions League goalscorer for Northern Ireland call"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>John McGovern scored in Shamrock Rovers\u2019 5-1 win over Floriana of Malta on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>23:17, 14 Jul 2026Updated 23:22, 14 Jul 2026<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/95263_3002401.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Shamrock Rovers' John McGovern celebrates scoring his sides third goal against Floriana\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Shamrock Rovers&#8217; John McGovern celebrates scoring his sides third goal against Floriana(Image: INPHO\/James Crombie)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Stephen Bradley believes John McGovern has what it takes to play senior international football.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The former Newry Town and <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.belfastlive.co.uk\/all-about\/dungannon\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Dungannon<\/a> Swifts striker scored the goal that levelled Shamrock Rovers\u2019 Champions League tie with Floriana of Malta on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">McGovern is a former Northern Ireland Under-21 international and Bradley reckons he can one day knock on Michael O\u2019Neill\u2019s door.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">O\u2019Neill was manager at Tallaght Stadium when Bradley was a player, and the Hoops boss said: \u201cYeah, I think he can (play for the senior international side).<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cJust because of the type he is, there are not many centre-forwards to have that type of movement, how he can dip down both sides.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m not saying that\u2019s going to happen tomorrow, but I think there is potential for that down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">McGovern (23) is still growing into his role at Shamrock Rovers, following his move last summer from Dungannon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">He has had to work hard to change his body shape, having come from inter-county Gaelic football with Down.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cWe had to be patient and he had to be patient,\u201d said Bradley. \u201cWe needed to change his body, he was a GAA player when we got him, in that build, and we needed to shred that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cThat takes time, it can\u2019t happen overnight, and he had to learn how we play, and then understand what his strengths are in this team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cHe is definitely getting there, you can see he should score a couple tonight, there is no doubt he should. But that\u2019s the bit that will come.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cAs a forward, once you are brave enough to miss, you will always score. And he is.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cWhat I really like about him is he compliments that team well &#8211; Dylan (Watts), Jack (Byrne) and Graham (Burke). We need something different when you play those three.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cJohn is recognising that that\u2019s what he gives us and he is doing it really well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Bradley added: \u201cI watched the (Gaelic football) games on Sunday and they all have that type of build. That\u2019s what John came with &#8211; big shoulders, big arms, really wide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cBut it\u2019s a completely different game and completely different movements. I think there is more to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"><a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.belfastlive.co.uk\/newsletter-preference-centre\/?view=Solus&amp;mailingListId=9e6fed01-dc22-4b4b-873a-afe983e85ba3&amp;utm_source=solusarticle\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the latest sports news, headlines and top stories <\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John McGovern scored in Shamrock Rovers\u2019 5-1 win over Floriana of Malta on Tuesday night. 23:17, 14 Jul&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1089934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[12421,31133,1144,8538,16,15],"class_list":["post-1089933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-dungannon-swifts","tag-michael-oneill","tag-northern-ireland","tag-northern-ireland-football-team","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1089933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1089934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1089933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1089933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1089933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}