Stephen Bradley insisted his side were the better team after they snatched victory deep in injury-time against Bohemians on a "special night" for the visitors.
Former Republic of Ireland international Enda Stevens headed home his first ever League of Ireland goal in the fifth minute of injury-time as the champions took all three points in a game where they were under the cosh for large stages.
They trailed in the match for over 50 minutes, in between Ross Tierney's 21st minute goal and John McGovern's 72nd minute equaliser, headed home just a minute after the Down man's introduction.
In the lengthy intervening period, Bohs missed several chances to double their lead, Dawson Devoy, Tierney and Dayle Rooney blowing opportunities to extend the lead.
The game was headed for a draw until late very late in injury-time, when Dylan Watts hung up a cross and Stevens powered home a bullet header to spark jubilant scenes in the away enclosure - giving the Hoops a sweet victory in the last game played in Dalymount Park before its renovation.
The final whistle brought ill-tempered scenes as a brawl started in the middle of the pitch, involving both sets of players and backroom teams.
Bradley, however, didn't really involve himself as he celebrated in front of the travelling support.
"It's obviously up there. We've had some good results here, going back to the FA Cup semi-final some years back," Bradley told RTÉ Sport.
"This was special because I thought we were very good in the game.
"I thought we were very good. We knew how they were pressing us and we were exposing them.
"But just the final bit wasn't there. But throughout the game I thought we were good.
"Obviously go one behind, but we showed real character and we got our rewards."
After it was suggested that Bohemians had a lot of chances in the game, Bradley was quick to fire back: "We had chances as well.
"Both had chances, I thought. But I did think we were the better team.
"Like I said, I thought some of our play under pressure was really good. And we win late on.
"You think back, we were two up last year in Tallaght and in the last eight minutes, we lose the game.
"It happens. These games aren't over til they're over. Momentum changes rapidly. Small moments change them. And we come on the right side of that."
Bradley acknowledged that his defence probably sat too deep in the first half but wasn't unduly worried at the break.
"It was just that our line was a bit sloppy," he said.
"We were a bit slow getting up at times and we stayed deep.
"They've got good runners. Ross Tierney, Dawson [Devoy], [Colm] Whelan. And you have to move. We didn't in the first half but in the second half, we rectified that.
"We were fine [at half-time]. Disappointed with the goal, but you could see the spaces. You could see them.
"The final bit was just a little off but we were in a good place.
"We knew we could cause some problems. We just needed to keep trusting what we were doing and we did."
Ahead of Ireland's upcoming friendly against Qatar, Heimir Hallgrimsson and John O'Shea were both in attendance, with Troy Parrott, Jake O'Brien and Jayson Molumby all captured sitting in the crowd.
There was some surprise beforehand when Ed McGinty, who is part of the Ireland squad, was selected to start tonight, though Bradley confirmed he was heading to the international camp immediately.
"Ed goes now. He'll go to the hotel now, yeah."
As for whether he'll play against Qatar, Bradley said, "I don't know, I'll have to speak to Heimir."
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