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'This is for the fans' - Keith Long on European qualification for Bohs

A scoreless draw on Friday night was enough as 10 men Bohemians held on against St. Pat's to secu...



'This is for the fans' - Keith...
Soccer

'This is for the fans' - Keith Long on European qualification for Bohs

A scoreless draw on Friday night was enough as 10 men Bohemians held on against St. Pat's to secure European football next season.

It'll be the first European involvement for the Gypsies in eight years as they have Europa League qualifiers to look forward to.

Manager Keith Long spoke to Oisin Langan for Off the Ball at full time;

"We're delighted to bring the club back into Europe.

"It's a fantastic achievement for the players, fantastic achievement for the board of the club who took over in difficult circumstances when the club was probably on its knees.

"Steadily we've been able to, year on year, move forward and progress and ultimately progression on the pitch tonight is a reward for what we've done over a good number of years and I think we've got some good foundations in place at the cub, hopefully, the future is bright with the talent that we have with the young players coming through."

Long was keen too to praise the Bohemians supporters, saying they have had a major impact upon the good form they've shown this season.

"Really it's a reward for the people who come through the gates - the supporters who got behind the team all year but also for the people around the club - fantastic for the players and the backroom staff to have something tangible at the end of the year.

"Bohs is a big Dublin club, I'm lucky to be manager of Bohemians, I think it's a great club, I love working for them.

"There's not much bigger in my view in Irish football."

Long was eager too as he discussed the future of the club; with him keen to use this achievement as a stepping stone to go forward from.

"We're delighted to get them back into Europe, we won't be getting carried away, we'll have to be very prudent about what we try and do.

"We'll obviously try and move forward and progress again next year. That won't be easy - Pat's are a talented group of players, Derry are up and coming, Waterford have had a strong end to the season.

"There'll be a lot more challenges we feel next season. Obviously there's a massive gulp between the top two and where we stand at the moment so we've lots to do.

"But we'll enjoy tonight that's all we can do fr now, we're pleased to get the club back into Europe - the resources and the money that'll bring in - it's a reward for the people that have saved the club and get behind the team every week."

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Bohemians Keith Long League Of Ireland