‘Derby win over Bohemians was catalyst for our years of success’ – Shamrock Rovers’ Graham Burke

And while there’s a danger of recency bias when looking at how the fixture impacts on the city – the record attendance for an FAI Cup final was set by a Bohs-Rovers meeting in 1945 and stood until last year – Friday night’s game in Tallaght Stadium sees things move up a notch.

​There will be live TV cameras and two teams of full-time professionals, with senior international footballers in both camps, but it’s the attendance that is likely to break through the 10,000 mark that gives tonight’s game an added edge. It’s set to be a record for a league game in Tallaght and a figure not seen for Rovers-Bohs since the 1960s.

“Going back years I don’t know what the record attendance was for a league game, back in the day when there was Dalymount and Milltown and what they hold, but it’s a big crowd and I’m looking forward to it,” says Rovers forward Graham Burke.

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Burke, in his second spell at Rovers and a player who thrives off the pressure of the derby, knows the cliche that three points against Bohs is worth the same as any other victory but the former Aston Villa trainee, who grew up in what’s considered Bohs territory in Dublin’s north inner city, is well aware of the full value of this fixture.

The Hoops have enjoyed huge success over the last five years, with four league titles and an FAI Cup success, but Burke believes that golden era all started with a win over Bohs, in the cup semi-final in 2019.

“I’ve been on the end of a few wins and on the end of a few losses. They are big, exciting games and games that you look forward to. Packed out stadiums and all that, so it’s a massive game and a massive game in the league and probably the one everyone looks forward to,” he says.

“Going back, probably the highlight of Bohs-Rovers games for me is obviously the semi-final. Getting that over the line in Dalymount and going on to win it and sparking off the success that we’ve had.

“When you get over the line of winning something it gives you that belief. We were chasing a great team in Dundalk at that time. Going into that game, I don’t know what our record would have been like in Dalymount. ​

“We knew we had lost a few games so it was big going there and to win it. That stands out in my mind in terms of how big of a win that was in Bohs-Rovers games.”

From recent derby games, two images stick: Bohs man Keith Ward sticking a red and black shirt onto a corner flag and raising it high in front of Gypsies fans, the spoils of war, after a win for his side in Tallaght in 2018, and then a response from Aaron Greene, a similar hoisting aloft of the jersey in front of Hoops fans after a Dalymount triumph a year later.

“I know what it means to us as players and what it means to the fans too,” says Burke. “It’s the bragging rights of Dublin and you want to go into the game and win it. There is obviously that rivalry between us and the Wardy one, we obviously wouldn’t have liked that but then obviously Greener (repeated) it with the win.

“But they are things you do on the banter side of it when you win the games. There hasn’t been much besides those incidents but for everyone, it’s a big game that you really want to win.”

Rovers boss Stephen Bradley has fond memories of the fixture as his first derby in charge of Rovers was a win over Bohs in 2016. “We’d quite a number of young players on the pitch at the time. Seán Boyd was really, really good for us then. It was obviously a big game for me,” he recalls.

Wins are vital for morale but even more important this season, given the slow start to the campaign by Bohs and Rovers. The Hoops have just one win from five and Bohs are off the back of a run that cost Declan Devine his job, meaning that Alan Reynolds – a former Rovers player – takes charge of the Gypsies this evening for the first time.

“I think people will look at it results wise and think that it’s not a great start, but if you look at the performances, they have been good,” insists Burke.

Bohs have kept just one clean sheet in five games but Bradley has been focused on the attacking threat. “They have always been very dangerous, going back to Keith Long’s days.

“You could see that was one of their biggest weapons under Keith, the personnel has changed but they recruited similar, that’s one of their big threats. And if you are not good in transition against them, they cause you real problems, we know that and we have to respect that. If you don’t respect that against them, you are in trouble.”