McEneff eager to get that 'football feeling' back at packed Tallaght

League of Ireland facilities are all the talk but Aaron McEneff would take playing in small stadia with a big crowd any day over being lost in a big stadium before a small crowd.

Not that Tallaght could be considered small. 

The newly-built fourth stand will enable Shamrock Rovers to pull 10,000 fans in for their title defence but their new playmaker has come from Australia where barren atmospheres in spanking 50,000-seater arenas were commonplace.

From Down Under, the upside-down transition is eased by a familiar habitat. 

McEneff last week became the latest member of the Rovers Return cohort, mirroring comebacks to the champions by Jack Byrne, Graham Burke and Trevor Clarke.

They’ve all boomeranged into Stephen Bradley’s set-up that can create history by winning a fifth league title on the trot.

Their tilt begins on February 16 with the visit of Dundalk and tickets will be scarce. 

That’s been the pattern of the Irish scene since the Derryman departed for Hearts during the depths of Covid in early 2021.

Eighteen months in Scotland encompassed promotion, a Scottish Cup final and 22 appearances upon Hearts’ return to the top-flight but the opportunity of a new adventure appealed for professional and personal reasons.

It wasn’t long, however, for the sunny backdrop of the A-League to darken. 

As Irish fans engulfed his adopted city of Perth for the women’s World Cup last summer, the city’s flagship club were in a financial meltdown.

He’s glad to have fled Perth Glory in the end, on loan for now anyway, with the 28-year-old embracing the stability of success at Rovers and the sight of Champions League exposure visible in the summer.

His wife and young daughter are enjoying the last of the Aussie rays before