"We can survive in the Premier Division" - UCD boss O'Neill

15th November 2023
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Collie O’Neill was happy with his side’s draw as they ended their league campaign with a share of the spoils in the City Calling Stadium.   The Champions do have bigger fish to fry as they take on Dundalk next week in the Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup sem

Collie O’Neill was happy with his side’s draw as they ended their league campaign with a share of the spoils in the City Calling Stadium.   The Champions do have bigger fish to fry as they take on Dundalk next week in the Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup semi-final and O’Neill wasn’t disappointed that some minds seemed to wonder to next week’s game having already sown the league title up.   “It was a difficult night for us when mentally we’re not fully at it, our focus is really all about next week. We played pretty well in the first half, didn’t turn up in the second half. “It’s a little bit hard to give out to them because of the season that we’ve had.”   O’Neill also said how his side have only matched the expectations set out earlier this year.   “This is the standard that we have set, and it was our target. We thought we had the best young players in this country and we knew we had a great chance of winning this league. “A few little bits of luck went our way. We had a great start to the season and that little momentum carried us through. Our expectation from the start was we could win this.”   The UCD boss also had an eye on next year’s campaign.   “It’s how well do they develop. Do they develop as they have this year and grow as they have this year? If so, I think we can survive in that Premier Division”.