The Irish wing-back admitted his side were not at their free-flowing best on matchday two but was pleased with how his teammates dug deep after putting in a defensively organised performance to snatch a late winning goal – expertly put away by Willy Boly – to secure their first win of the group stages.
On first Europe League group win
“It probably wasn’t our best performance. The atmosphere and the conditions made it difficult, but I don’t think that had an impact on our performance, it probably just boosted them more than us.
“It was a tough night for us, but we dug in and didn’t let them create too many clear-cut chances. Defensively we were fine, but we just couldn’t get it going offensively.
“We obviously didn’t create much during the game, but to nick it at the end was special. I wouldn’t say we deserved it, but we’ll take it.
“You can’t be at your best every week. They’re a good side but we managed to see out the dangerous spells and didn’t concede – which is always important. We managed to see it out until the end and obviously got the goal.”
On Boly’s 93rd minute winning goal
“He took it really well. He’s a threat in both boxes – you see the size of him – but it doesn’t matter who scores when it’s that late in the game, as long as it goes in the net.”
On getting back to his best
“I feel better every game, every time I play 90 minutes, I’m starting to feel where I was last season. I missed the whole of pre-season and was kind of playing catch-up at the start of the season, but I’m starting to feel good again.”
On differences to last season
“We’re playing in the Premier League and Europa League against really good teams and the teams we played against last season are now playing differently against us to try to nullify our strengths.
“Our challenge now is to find other ways to get round them. Saying that, we’ve only lost two league games, so despite the fact we haven’t been playing great, we haven’t been losing a lot of games.
“I think our form is slowly starting to come back into the lads, and that’s two wins in a row now and two clean sheets, so Sunday should be fun.”
On travelling from Istanbul to Manchester
“I don’t think it will have an impact on the City game. The preparation won’t be a problem because the staff we have here are top class.
“We recover well, the staff have in place all the right things for us to do, and we’ll fly back straight after the game, start the preparation for the game on Friday and then travel up to Manchester on Saturday night.
“It shouldn’t be a problem, we’re professional enough to do things right and be good to go by the time Sunday comes.”
