He said: “It’s going to be a tough game but we’re really looking forward to it. Even though we’re starting our season a bit earlier than other teams, it’s still been a long off-season so we hope there’ll be a big crowd behind us.

“It’s a quarter-final and a huge opportunity for us to progress and that’s what we want to do. We want to get to a final. It would huge for the club and the supporters.

“To do that, we need to play to our utmost ability and have our fans be patient and right behind us if the tie is in the balance.

“It’s going to be a measure of where we’re at as a team. The timing of this game presents mitigating factors against us.

“That’s not looking for excuses but you have to be realistic when you have so many new players. It can take time to gel and find our feet, so we hope the personalities and ability of our players can shine through.

“We know we are not the finished article but we have some excellent new young players in the team but there is still work to be done and we will continue to evolve.

“We’ve rebuilt our squad, this is our first competitive fixture. In many ways we are coming into this game undercooked in comparison to the opposition.

“They’re third in their league, they’re flying high and they’ll be coming over confident. They’re bang in-season and in a good run of form.

“In my mind they are coming over as favourites. The bookies mightn’t agree but reality suggests otherwise. It’s very much a new team coming up against a settled, confident one.

“That’s not being trying to play mind games or knocking ourselves at all. We have real quality and potential. It’s just a reflection of where both teams are in their respective seasons at the moment.”

Prior to beating Sutton United on penalties after a 0-0 draw at Dalymount in the last round, Bohs have played and beaten Scottish opposition in this tournament already.

In September, a much-changed Bohs team beat Peterhead with Kevin Devaney’s effort the only goal of the game.

That scoreline did not quite reflect Bohs’ superiority on the day but Long doesn’t believe there are many comparisons to be made between the opposition that day and what they face at Dalymount this afternoon.

East Fife are third in Scottish League 1 with Peterhead occupying the same position in their league – a division lower.

Long said: “East Fife are third and the teams ahead of them are full-time and with good budgets in Raith and Arbroath.

“We’ve played Scottish opposition already in this tournament but we only won 1-0, albeit in a game we dominated, against a Peterhead side who are a division lower

“There is going to be a quantum difference in the standard of East Fife in comparison.”

Bohs come into this game with mixed results performances in their three pre-season games played to date.

They kicked off their pre-season campaign with a 2-2 draw with Shelbourne at Abbotstown, followed it up with a 0-0 draw with the Defence Forces in Crumlin and appeared to find their groove with a 4-0 win against Longford Town at the AUL on Tuesday night.

Long said: “Pre-season can be misleading. It’s wrong to get carried away with results whether they’re good or bad as pre-season games are about a lot of things – getting minutes spread out across the players to try bring them up to speed, trying out different combinations and structures across the team and all that.

“We’ve shown quality in patches – most notably in the first half against Shelbourne and in the second half against Longford – but it would be wrong to read too much into those at this stage.”

TEAM NEWS

Kevin Devaney (groin) and Darragh Leahy (hip) are likely to sit this one out. Cristian Magerusan (cruciate) is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines, while Scott Allardice is cup-tied having played for Dundee United’s U20s earlier in the competition.

Sexton’s side have dusted themselves down after that disappointment and are refreshed and ready to go toe to toe with Aidan Price’s Hoops in the league decider.

He said: “It’ll be an interesting game, it’ll be a tight one I think. But we have to give it go and let’s see where that takes us.

“I think we will get a crowd there with it being a Dublin derby, it’ll appeal to a wider audience.

“I think it’s the first time Bohs and Rovers have played in a big final since I played in the U20s final in 2010.

“We were beaten on penos that night, so hopefully the result will go the other way this time around!”

While trophies and the honour of representing the country in Uefa competition have been obvious highlights, Sexton sees the progression of players to Keith Long’s first team as the real sign of success.

The pathway for players is clear, from the joint Bohs-SKB U15 and U17 teams right through to the U19s and on to the first team. 

Ali Reghba, Andy Lyons, Cristian Magerusan, Danny Grant, Jamie Hamilton, Promise Omochere and Ryan Graydon have all featured for the first team this season as well as starring for Sexton’s U19s, while Paddy Kirk, now 20, has this season established himself as a first-team squad regular having shone for the U19s in recent seasons.

Sexton said: “Either way the game goes, this group have been fantastic. What they’ve achieved this season and last has been unbelievable.

“For the first team, the amount of players we’ve been able to bring through has been extremely pleasing.

“That’s where our success lies and I’m extremely proud of all the boys.”

Their route to the final has proved difficult, however, having had to dig deep in the knockout stages of the league against both Waterford and UCD.

In the quarter-final against Waterford, Bohs trailed 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before eventually coming out on top 4-3 after extra time. In the semi-final, Bohs relinquished a 2-0 lead to need penalties to defeat UCD.

Sexton added: “We played Waterford, we scored with five or ten to go having been behind the whole game.

“Against UCD we were 2-0 up, cruising in the game, concede one and concede another just on the stroke of full-time.

“For the players to press the restart button and go again for another 30 minutes and win the shootout after that set-back was excellent.

“It shows you the type of group we have that they were able to dig deep and get those results.”

Long said: “We looked on Saturday’s game as an opportunity to shake the disappointment of going out of the FAI Cup. We wanted a win to put that out of our minds as best we could.

“It was good to have a game against different opposition, against a team with a different style of play.

“We played very well in patches but we looked tired towards the end so we’re glad it went straight to penalties and there was no extra-time.

“We’re delighted to progress in the tournament, it’s something very different for the club but the players and supporters have bought into it.

“We’re hoping we can bring forward the quarter-final as the players don’t want to extend our season too much.

“But they were determined to get through. That was the same for both rounds, no matter what team we put out, they wanted to progress.”

Bohs found themselves 3-1 down in the shootout after Oscar Brennan and Eoghan Stokes saw their efforts saved.

But up stepped goalkeeper Shane Supple to save one, score one and save another to turn the shootout on its head.

Long said: “Supps was actually a bit disappointed he wasn’t further up the list to take penalties!

“That’s the kind of character he is. Supps has been outstanding since day one he came to the club.

“But to win a shootout like that was unique – it might be a quiz question in years to come!”

Tomorrow the Gypsies face a relegated Bray side with little more than pride to play for.

But Long, who has fond memories of his own time with the Seagulls as a player and coach, is never one to take any team for granted.

He added: “We don’t take any opposition lightly. Bray may be down but they are doing a lot of good work behind the scenes now and are in a better place as a club now.

“We have to focus on ourselves. We always bring a big crowd out to Bray and we want to get a result.

“We want to finish the season strongly and as high up the table as possible.

“We have to make sure we deliver a good performance and impose ourselves on the game.

“When we do that, we’re capable of beating any team in the league but the performance has to be right.”

TEAM NEWS

Darragh Leahy is out with a recurrence of a thigh injury. Ryan Swan (cruciate) and Ryan Masterson (quad) remain on the sidelines.

“Last night was the first night we had them back training.

“We felt they needed a break after Monday as everyone was extremely disappointed. But we look bright in training.

“We had a look last night at where we went wrong and what we did well. Obviously we could have played a lot better in the first half.”

Monday was the second defeat in three days but the Friday 3-1 loss to Waterford saw a Bohs team line out with nine changes to the side that took to the field in the first cup game against Cork City – the only two survivors were suspended for the rematch.

Prior to that, Long’s side were on a remarkable 10-match unbeaten run of nine consecutive wins and a draw.

He said: “It was unfortunate and disappointing after the run we’ve been on that we gave what was probably the worst 45 minutes we’ve had in months.

“A cup final would have been a huge reward for the players, everyone involved behind the scenes at the club and for our supporters who’ve been right behind us.”

Long expressed his wish to put on record his gratitude for the 700-strong travelling support who stayed back after the game to applaud his

He said: “Every one of the players and staff remarked on the effort of our supporters to pick us up on Monday.

“It’s been the same for months. But what we saw from our supporters on Monday in the way they stayed behind and tried to give us a lift after the game was special.

“It really meant a lot to everyone, you just don’t see that other clubs.”

While Bohs are still licking their wounds, Long has one eye on next season and believes there is huge potential for his team to continue to build on the foundations laid in recent years.

He said: “If we can keep this group together, we can progress together as a group. We’ve some very talented young players coming through.

“I think people realise that and the younger players coming through are getting great encouragement.”

But before he can look too far ahead, there is the somewhat unknown quantity of Sutton United to contend with.

Long said: “Tomorrow is unfamiliar opposition in an unfamiliar competition but we want to progress.

“It will be hard to pick everyone up but we want to get back winning and this is a chance for us to get to a quarter-final.

“We don’t know a lot about them other than the video footage we’ve seen of them. But they play at a good standard.

“The Conference in England have the likes of Adam Rooney and Rory Gaffney playing there so it’s a tough league with a high calibre of player and a very competitive standard.

“We’re looking forward to it. We want to win to help put a smile back on the faces of our players and supporters.”

TEAM NEWS

Dan Kelly and Dan Casey return from suspension but the latter is a slight doubt with a calf strain.

Ryan Swan (cruciate) and Ryan Masterson (quad) remain out.

BARS OPEN 1PM

Please note the bars open at 1pm tomorrow ahead of the game until late.

We will have Bobby Harper performing live in the Phoenix Bar and we will be screening Ireland v Denmark at 7.45pm.

All Sutton fans are invited to make use of our bars also.

All three previous victories in this competition – against Wexford, Galway United and Derry City – came on the road.

It goes without saying that tonight’s opposition are a huge step up from any of those three teams.

But having got this far, there is no doubt in Long’s mind that his side are refreshed, refocused and ready to make the most of tonight’s game.

He said: “We’re looking forward to it. Last Sunday was a great occasion in Dalymount.

“Obviously it would have been nice if we’d held on a little bit longer. But it wasn’t to be on the night.

“It’s a tough ask to go down to Turner’s Cross. We’ll have to do it the hard way. It’s a big game and the lads can’t wait for it.

“Cork might feel they’ve done the hard part by forcing the replay, but we see tonight’s game as a big opportunity for us.

“We want big nights like last Sunday. We want big nights like that in Dalymount. We want to be involved in big games at the business end of the season.

“Tonight is an opportunity for us to get to a cup final and it’s one that we hope to take.”

While the penalty debate dominated press coverage last week, Long insists his side drew a line under it and put it out of their minds.

He said: “Obviously there was a lot of discussion about whether it was or wasn’t a penalty.

“As a team we had to move on from that quite quickly.

“The players were obviously naturally very disappointed afterwards but they digested what happened and collectively moved on.

“You can’t look back. We’ve another massive game to get up for and we will be ready for it.”

Friday’s 3-1 defeat at home to Waterford ended a remarkable 10-game unbeaten run for Long’s men.

While the manager was disappointed to see the run of form come to an end, the priority was always to rest key men ahead of tonight’s game.

Long made nine changes from Sunday’s game. The only two survivors on Friday – Dan Casey and Dan Kelly – are suspended this evening after accumulating five yellow cards each.

Long said: “We’ll miss the two lads, there’s no doubt about it. But we have fellas ready to come in and desperate to play.

“The lads are in a good frame of mind after a good run of form.

“Friday was a much-changed team. It would have been nice to keep that run of form we were on going but the priority was tonight, let’s be honest.

“We’ll go down there and hopefully give a good account of ourselves.”

Long’s men will be backed by a crowd of 700 boisterous travelling Bohs supporters.

He added: “It’s fantastic. Even on Friday you could see the togetherness between the players and the supporters.

“The supporters come to Dalymount and further afield and they consistently urge their team to do well.

“They get excited when they see young players on the pitch – particularly their own who have come through and been developed by the club.

“You can see that togetherness. You can’t overstate the importance of that – the players feed off that, they really do.

“They can feel the energy from the terraces to the pitch. To have 700 going down on a Monday night is fantastic.

“I know they will get behind the team and they will help us.”

TEAM NEWS

Bohs are without the suspended duo of Dan Casey and Dan Kelly. Ryan Swan (cruciate) and Ryan Masterson (quad) remain out.