Stephen Bradley said Dublin derby bragging rights did not cross his mind as he watched his Shamrock Rovers team overcome Bohemians and move to the brink of winning a fifth SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division title in six seasons.
Rovers held a 10-point lead with a game in hand over Bohs and Derry City going into Friday night's game at Tallaght Stadium.
While the Hoops had a sizeable advantage in the table, Bohs had proved a thorn in their side, with Bradley's team losing all three previous league encounters during this campaign.
But goals from Graham Burke and Danny Mandroiu prevented that from becoming four in a 2-1 win that all but seals the league title, with Derry's draw at Drogheda United the only reason why the Hoops have not officially got their hands on the trophy yet.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport's John Kenny at full time, Bradley said the joy he felt had nothing to do with the fact that Rovers had finally got one over on bitter rivals Bohs in a head-to-head meeting during 2025.
"It wasn't about that, it was about taking us to the league title. That's all it was about," he said.
"It wasn't about beating anybody. Our aims are bigger than that, our goals are bigger than that.
"This club is about winning titles, playing in the group stages in Europe. We don't celebrate that for beating a team. It's about taking us to the league title which is all but done now which is great."
Shamrock Rovers only need one more point to be crowned champions and the next opportunity to do so will come on Friday, 10 October at Tallaght Stadium against reigning champions Shelbourne.
The potential opportunity of sealing the title against the team that dethroned them last year was immaterial to Bradley.
"Once we do it, I couldn't care where it is," he said, before quipping, "If we can't get a point from our next five games, we shouldn't be around. So we'll be alright."
On the victory over Bohs itself, the Hoops manager expressed delight at the way in which his side went about their business.
"We were excellent. We exposed the press. We knew how they would press us," he said.
"We exposed it really well. Graham (Burke), Dylan (Watt), Danny (Mandroiu) and Matt (Healy) exposed it really well and caused them real problems and obviously the quality then took over but it was a good game.
"They had their spells, we had our spells but I thought our quality really showed through and like I said, we exposed the press.
"There's lots of good players on the pitch and nearly 10,000 (fans in the stadium), good pitch, it's a great advertisement for the league."
