They qualified through the Fair Play League, but it is UCD who have captured the imagination when it comes the Irish clubs in Europe this season.
The First Division side saw off Dudelange of Luxembourg in the first stage of Europa League qualification and after losing 1-0 in the first leg of their second round tie against Slovakia's Slovan Bratislava, they have plenty of hoping going into the return match this Thursday.
UCD manager Collie O'Neill joined Off The Ball and ex-Shelbourne midfielder Stuart Byrne on tonight's show to look ahead to that game and the progress made thus far.
And O'Neill admits he and the players used some of the negativity that came UCD's way as motivation ahead of the Dudelange match.
"It helped us. We took a copy of every tweet that was sent to the club, saying how 'we were a joke' and that 'it must have been April Fool's Day to put us into the Europa League' and we compiled a big list of them and stuck them on posters all over the dressing room and it worked to our advantage," he said, adding that the club has "always taken stick" and believes Slovan may have under-estimated them in the first leg.
But ahead of the second leg, he also feels that UCD may have "poked the dragon" and that Slovan will take the challenge more seriously.
Listen to the full interview via the podcast:
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