Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley said he never doubted his side during a poor run of results and backed them to kick on from their impressive Airtricity League Premier Division slaying of champions Cork City.
The Hoops swept past John Caulfield's men 3-0 at Tallaght Stadium on Monday night thanks to a superb Graham Burke goal and further efforts from Ethan Boyle and Roberto Lopes.
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The hosts had drawn two and lost three of their previous five league games before that, cranking up the pressure on their manager.
However Bradley said much of the criticism was overblown.
"I thought we were excellent," he told RTÉ Sport. "Obviously the champions were coming, top of the league, but we've been playing well.
"Against Limerick we were excellent, Derry we were excellent. We were creating chances, we just weren't putting them away. Tonight we did put them away.
"We didn't become a bad team overnight. There was nothing major wrong. We'd a bad five days and everyone jumped on it. That's what happens when you're at the biggest club in the country.
"I knew the group. I know what I have in there in terms of characters. We knew they'd respond in the right way."
Bradley took the chance to heap praise on his goalkeeper Kevin Horgan, who was superb for his team against Cork.
The 21-year-old had come under fire after making some bad mistakes during Rovers' patchy run, but he could not be beaten against the Leesiders, pulling off several quality saves.
"He's shown tremendous character the last few weeks because a lot of people have spoken about him, an easy target, a young boy, 'let's go and have a go at him'," Bradley added.
"He's stood up, he's shown unbelievable character. Many players would have folded. He hasn't and he's produced some really good performances.
"We need to stay focused for every game. This team, we're three unbeaten now, is capable of going on a run."
