UCD manager Collie O’Neill believes that his side’s mental strength proved crucial as they secured promotion back to the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.
The Students have spent the last four seasons in the First Division, but managed to return to the top flight, having secured the title with a 1-1 draw with second placed Finn Harps.
UCD got the point they needed against Finn Harps to win the First Division title and earn promotion to the top flight #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/g7dUk72Qfn
— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) September 17, 2018
The Donegal side could have taken the title race to the final week of the season with a victory at Belfield, and they almost snatched all three points as they took the lead with ten minutes remaining.
However, the college side bounced back one minute later with Conor Davis scoring the all-important goal that sparked off the celebrations as O'Neill's side secured promotion.
"I thought Harps were the better side on the night. It was a real tight contest," said College manager O’Neill, speaking on this week's Soccer Republic Extra podcast.
"They set out their stall to stop us playing, they went touch tight, especially in the middle of the park where they put a man on Gary [O’Neill].
"He’s our main playmaker and they tried their best to take him out of the game. They made it extremely difficult for us to get into our normal flow."
And while Harps almost secured the win, which would have given them a chance to overtake UCD on the final day of the season, O’Neill believes that it was his side’s mental strength and composure, which saw them through.
"The big difference with this UCD side this year, compared to other years was just this mental strength," said O’Neill.
"We just stayed positive. And the goal we got came because we were composed. We were able to pick out our passes and the first touch from Conor Davis was just outstanding, a striker’s instinct when he gets into those areas."
While the UCD players began a night of celebrations on campus, O’Neill revealed that he was already looking to the next challenge just 30 minutes after the final whistle.
"It’s a strange, strange feeling. Even thirty minutes after the game had finished, the relief had passed and I was already thinking on to the next one.
"For me, that was it, done and dusted, and I was already looking ahead to where I can go and get the next winner’s medal and the next trophy for the club.
"I knew I couldn’t celebrate at the weekend as the wife was gone away and I had to look after three kids. That was my celebrations!"
And that next challenge presents itself in the form of an FAI Cup semi-final against Premier Division league leaders Dundalk at the end of the month.
"Why not? Why can’t we beat them?" added O’Neill. "We’ll go at it in a positive mindset and we’ll give it a good crack."
We need your consent to load this SoundCloud contentWe use SoundCloud to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
