Declan Devine: 'We’ve got people in the building willing to die for this club'

Bohemians manager Declan Devine is enjoying the strong connection that his players have already established with the fans after they made it two wins from two on Friday night.

Once the final whistle sounded on Bohs’ 2-1 win over Dundalk both management and players ran across the pitch to the Jodi Stand to celebrate with the Gypsies’ faithful after they hung tough towards the end of the game.

Devine appears to have endeared himself to the fans with his aggression and passion which has been passed down to his players, but he wants the crowd to play an equal part in helping his team win matches this season.

“You want that connection with the supporters and players,” Devine said on Friday.

“We have to show that we are willing to do everything in our power. We turn up here with people in from our past telling us what the fans want and what the fans want is effort and commitment and to see a nice brand of football, we’re working on that, but if we can add that real work ethic and desire to get across the line then we send our fans home happy and the players did that tonight.

“We’ve got a strong bench, we’ve had one transfer window, bringing Pat Fenlon and Gary Cronin to the club and every player we’ve brought in has bought into the ethos of the club.

“Our fans got us across the line as much as our players did. I thought our stadium was quiet in parts tonight and we can’t have that even in difficult moments of the game we need our supporters behind the team and to give us that extra energy to go again. The fans and players relationship is key.

“Nobody is getting carried away, it’s six points but there’s a long, long way to go.”

2022 was a year to forget for Bohemians as they parted company with long-serving manager Keith Long and also suffered a humbling defeat at Tolka Park at the hands of rivals Shelbourne in the quarter-final of the FAI Cup which brought the curtain down on their season prematurely.

The Phibsborough side will make the short journey to Drumcondra this Friday night looking for redemption after what was undoubtedly the low point of last season.

“They’re all difficult games. We want to send a message everywhere we go, whether it’s Shels, Derry or St Pat’s, we’ve got to treat each game on its merits.

“We’ve got to understand that if you want to win games in this league you have to have the desire to do the ugly stuff really well,” said Devine.

“It’s not last year it’s this year with a new bunch of players who showed amazing balls and effort to get across the line. We will eventually stop talking about last year, we’re fit, strong, mentally strong, technically very good and we’ve got people in the building willing to die for this club.

“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, it matters what we bring to the party and how disciplined we are.

“I know what it means to our fans. I’m only here a short time but I get it. Last year’s gone and we’ve got a lot of players into the building, new group, new mentality but at the same time we’re not anywhere near where we want to be and we’ll treat every game with the utmost respect and we’ll do everything in our power to put the right team out with the right mentality, tactics and desire to win matches for this football club.”

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— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) February 27, 2023