O'Neill: "Bratislava the bar we have to reach."

Collie O'Neill has just come through a more hectic month as boss of First Division UCD than most Premier Division managers will endure over the course of an entire season, and he admits that the Students' Europa League escapades have taken a physical and mental toll – but he wouldn't trade it for anything, saying: “It's been brilliant, it really has.”

UCD's European adventure came to an end after its fourth match when O'Neill's men were beaten 5-1 by Slovan Bratislava in Belfield in their second qualifying round tie. Having lost just 1-0 in Slovakia in the first-leg, there was real hope that the Southsiders could progress even further, emphasized by the 1,361 capacity crowd which packed into the UCD Bowl for the return fixture. Ultimately, the quality of a more experienced team at this level won out and for the players, the disappointment is paramount.

“They're extremely disappointed,” O'Neill told media at the post-match press conference. “They've had a taste for it, they've enjoyed it and they wanted to go at it as long as possible. In fairness, would you like to be playing First Division football or playing this week in, week out?

“It comes down to thin lines between being an experienced international like what they [Bratislava] have to what we have. It's half a yard of a pass being too short or too long and the decision-making. Each one of their decisions when they went at us, they were clinical. For us, it was probably a little bit too slow or the wrong decision was made, but at least we went and had a go.

“We believed it, we believed we'd stay in it,” added O'Neill. “We knew what kind of bunch we had and the group that we have. We have good players, really have some good, good players. The only problem is that they're young and lack a little bit of experience, but if we can keep this bunch together for a couple of years, I think we'll be competitive not only in the First Division but maybe in the Premier Division.”

The manner in which UCD conducted themselves throughout their European run, particularly in the face of scorn when their qualification through the UEFA Fair Play league was confirmed, has filled O'Neill with pride. However, he has maintained all along that getting the Students back into the Premier Division was his number one priority and he believes his players now have a new benchmark to reach in order to achieve that goal.

“The bad start that we had, I think we lost four league games out of the first five, we were looking at Finn Harps, Wexford [Youths] and Shels as the bar for us to try and reach if we wanted to get back to the Premier Division,” admitted O'Neill. “This experience has taught us that that's not what we have to reach. We have to go beyond that, Bratislava is what we have to reach. Let's try copy what they do, try play at their kind of tempo and if we can do that, we'll be back in that Premier Division soon enough.

“We need to turn some of the draws we've been having into wins and it probably comes from us being a little bit too safe at times. From our experience over the last month, we now know how to have a proper go and if we're in a game where it's one-all or nil-all with 20 minutes to go, we'll be having a go. We need to turn some of those draws into wins.

“It's up to us and the coaching staff, we're going to have to work hard to make sure that the focus is back to winning this league,” replied O'Neill when asked if he feared a European hangover. “At the start of the season, we thought that it would be a two year, maybe three year plan to get back to the Premier Division, but we probably exceeded where we thought we would be, so we know we have a chance at winning it and we're going to give it a right go to try and win it.”

Over the years, UCD have developed a reputation for being a feeder club to bigger outfits in the League of Ireland as a number of graduates have gone on to bigger and better things after cutting their teeth in Belfield. Given the exposure UCD's recent European exploits have garnered, O'Neill could be forgiven for fearing that top flight sides could come calling for his leading lights. However, the Students' boss senses a different attitude in his current crop.

“It's always happened through the years, they come in here, they do well and other teams come in and take them away,” said O'Neill. “But I think there's a little bit of a difference with this group in that I think they really, really enjoy it here, they enjoy their football.

“You can see it with the likes of Evan [McMillan] coming back, ex-players have been in touch with me looking to see if they can come back too. I think they always think the grass is greener on the other side, but when it comes down to it a player just wants to play football and they enjoy their football here.”