Following this achievement the club was elected to the Free State League on 28 June 1934 along with Waterford as both Shelbourne and Cork Bohemians resigned from the league. Scotsman Bob Preston, ex-Heart of Midlothian, Plymouth Argyle and Torquay United player,managed the team in their first season at the highest level of Irish football with the first game being a 3–1 defeat in the Shield at the Iveagh Grounds in Dublin against St. James Gate. Tommy Callaghan scored Rovers' goal. The team finished third in that season with Gerry McDaid finishing as top scorer. During this season local Paddy Monaghan won two caps for the Irish national team and is still the only man to have achieved this while at the club.