Declan Devine hopes increased capacity for home supporters can make Dalymount Park an intimidating place for away teams to come to this season.
Bohemians were roared onto victory away to Cork City in Turner’s Cross last Friday by a raucous 700-strong travelling support.
And with the Des Kelly Stand now set aside for home fans only this season, his side will have over 4000 supporters behind them at tomorrow’s sold-out game – the biggest Bohs support for a competitive fixture at Dalymount in 14 years.
Devine said: “Last week in Turner’s Cross, it was amazing. Our support gave us the impetus to start the game properly and ultimately helped us get the three points. There were 6,500 there but all I heard up until the last ten minutes was the 700 or so Bohemians fans.
“Our players responded to that, and they showed great determination and fight. Having that support gives you an extra yard, gives you an extra inch in your height, and makes you determined to win every header and second ball.
“The support definitely got us across the line and that is going to have to be required again. We need everyone pulling in the same direction during the good parts and the bad parts for the full duration of the game. As hostile as we can make Dalymount the better.
“It is great to be back at Dalymount. Everyone is really looking forward to it. We have the two sides of Dalymount for tomorrow sold out with Bohs fans, and it is fantastic that we will have that level of support behind us.
“A lot of the credit for that has to go to people behind the scenes for that. Everybody – staff, members, volunteers – has been working day and night over the past number of weeks to get the place ready for our first home game and it’s up to us now to pull it all together on the pitch.
“We are getting that relationship between players and fans again, and the excitement is building. We have to do everything in our power to send our fans home happy.”
Goals from Grant Horton and Jordan Flores had Bohs looking comfortable last week but a mistake at the back allowed Ruairí Keating in to pull one back for Cork City on 82 minutes and Devine’s side had to soak up a lot of pressure to hold on to all three points.
Devine added: “I was over the moon with how we performed last week. Any three points in this league have to be hard earned, and we worked extremely hard last week.
“The group is very tight. We have a great mixture of leadership, great players who have come back to the club, and new players excited to be here and who want to push on.
“At times last week we played some really nice stuff. We have to understand that we got our reward last week because of our work ethic and what we were willing to do to get the points. We have got to be like that again this week.
“Dundalk are in Europe for a reason, and for us to get anything out of the game, and to get that feeling we got last week for our supporters and for ourselves, we have to work for the full 90+ minutes and win every wee individual battle as well.
“It is going to be a tough game and we have to make sure we are ready for it. Dundalk are a side full of quality and experience.
“As a club they have consistently won trophies and qualified for Europe in recent years. We are fully aware of what is sitting in front of us and we have to be at our best.”
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