Hoops<\/a>.<\/p>\nNow in his second spell at Tallaght Stadium, Burke has just hit a major landmark by netting his 100th goal for Rovers in all competitions.<\/p>\n
That includes a League of Ireland joint record of 14 goals scored in European competition.<\/p>\n
In the wake of his 100th goal, scored in Monday\u2019s 3-2 win over Shelbourne, Burke reflected on his journey so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came home a bit broken,\u201d he said, \u201cand tried to get myself going again to enjoy the game. There was no planning on going back [to England], just to play and enjoy it.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing back to the club, I wanted to be successful by winning trophies and scoring goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think I\u2019d reach 100 goals, win five leagues, two Cups and play in the European group stage three times. It\u2019s been a great experience and something I\u2019m really proud to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burke did get back to England – this time with Preston. He also won three senior Ireland caps and scored in a 2019 win over the USA.<\/p>\n
\u201cListen, if you come back after not enjoying it, the easy thing to do is give up,\u201d he said. \u201cI backed myself to try and get back to who I knew I could be.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was grateful that I\u2019ve been able to have a career in the game. I\u2019m 32, turn 33 later this year, so I probably don\u2019t have many years left to play. I\u2019m trying to enjoy it as much as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rovers didn\u2019t have to break the bank to land Burke in 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I came here, I probably wasn\u2019t being paid. I was getting paid but it was nothing, only peanuts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuckily enough I could live because I was still getting paid off Notts County. I\u2019d have struggled to have lived on that wage alone. Thankfully I was living at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t for the money, just trying to get back and enjoy it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came through hard times. I had great moments before I came back [from England the first time], but the year before coming back was a bad spell.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I came back I started playing and enjoying it again and doing well, playing for Ireland and getting the move back to England.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I went away, and I knew that I\u2019d be going on loan, I wanted to come back to Rovers, be at home and enjoy it again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to keep having to move because when I did move on loan it felt like the previous time. I didn\u2019t want that again for myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo to come back here, try to win and be part of this group, it\u2019s been a special few years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burke wants to stay at Rovers for the rest of his career. He rejoined the club, first on-loan from Preston in the summer of 2019, and then on a permanent basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been ups and downs,\u201d he said of his time at Rovers. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been plain sailing. I know we\u2019ve won [a lot of trophies], but I\u2019ve had a lot of good games and a lot of bad games.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s football, you\u2019ve got to take the good with the bad. I\u2019ve been successful here, but I\u2019ve also had bad spells, as in performances and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Injuries have taken their toll on Burke, so manager Stephen Bradley has to carefully manage his minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Stephen has done with me last year and this year has been to manage my training, the games I\u2019ve played and the minutes I\u2019ve played,\u201d explained the Hoops legend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that has helped me so much. In previous years I\u2019d love to have played every game, but history tells you I break down.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the way Stephen has managed me over the last 15 or 16 months, I\u2019ve really reaped the benefits of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on his 100 goals, Burke remembered how his first was quickly followed by a red card against Dundalk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lasted seven minutes,\u201d he said. \u201cHow could I not remember that?\u201d<\/p>\n
As for favourites, he replied: \u201cThat was against the Czech team, Mlada Boleslav [in July 2017, when Rovers lost 3-2]. That was one of the better ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cI scored with my right foot against Cork City in the year that I left [for Preston]. That was with my weaker foot so it was a surprise and stands out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was one in the derby against Bohs last year. It was such a huge goal because it kind of clinched the title. They stand out.\u201d<\/p>\n
After scoring so many spectacular goals, his 100th was a tap-in from two yards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in the right spot at the right time when the goalkeeper spilled it. As players, they\u2019re great because they\u2019re nearly free. A poacher\u2019s goal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Graham Burke left Ireland in 2010 dreaming of a career in the Premier League with Aston Villa. Shamrock…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[91986,172788,42,2539,1547,43,172791,1102,172792,57217,103977,91985,90444,172790,172789,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-389250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-aston-villa-fc","9":"tag-graham-burke","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-league-of-ireland","12":"tag-liverpool-fc","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-notts-county-fc","15":"tag-premier-league","16":"tag-preston-north-end-fc","17":"tag-republic-of-ireland-national-football-team","18":"tag-shamrock-rovers-f-c","19":"tag-shamrock-rovers-fc","20":"tag-shelbourne-fc","21":"tag-shrewsbury-town","22":"tag-shrewsbury-town-fc","23":"tag-top-news","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topnews","26":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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