BOHEMIANS MUST FOCUS on themselves rather than their vaunted Greek opponents this week, says Ross Tierney, as his side aim to complete one of the finer Irish heists in the history of European competition.
Bohs shocked PAOK 2-1 at the Aviva Stadium last week in the first leg of their Europa Conference League qualifier, and travel to Thessaloniki to finish the job on Thursday night.
“We’re just looking forward to the game and we’ll keep the same game plan as we normally do and try and go out and win the game”, said Tierney.
“They are a top quality side and obviously an experienced European side who expect to go through this tie. But we’re looking forward to it. We go into every game the same and try to just concentrate on ourselves. We don’t really worry about the opposition.”
Tierney is among a trio of Bohs players for whom this is not their first trip to PAOK: he, Dawson Devoy and Andy Lyons were part of a Bohs’ U19 side that were knocked out of the Uefa Youth League by PAOK in 2019.
“We all love playing for Bohs”, says Tierney. “You can see the pathway from St Kevin’s to Bohs is strong, you can see that with young lads who signed professional contracts, there’s a couple of lads who are in the first team now who came through Kevin’s and the youth and an awful lot of credit goes to our coaches at Kevin’s and our youth level coaches at Bohs. Keith [Long] gives you a chance, if you are good enough you are old enough.
“Keith trusts young lads, he knows that the quality we have in the youth level is still strong, we know if we’re not performing at first team level sometimes the 19s or even the 17s can come in and take our spots.
Tierney has been a consistent presence in the Bohs team this year, starting all but two of Bohs’ league games to date.
“It was a shortened season last year but in the close season I just felt this would be my year”, says Tierney. “Keith gave me a shot in Finn Harps, and I felt I needed to keep performing week in, week out, with the quality that’s in the team and the whole squad and everyone is just challenging each other. I worked more with Remy [Tang] in the gym, I have always worked hard but thankfully this year I broke through.”
Playing as a No.10, he has formed a fruitful partnership with striker Georgie Kelly, who has scored 16 goals in 26 games thus far this year.
“Everyone in the squad loves playing with Georgie. He’s a great lad and a great player. He’s proved a lot of doubters wrong. Nobody on Bohs has ever doubted him. He’s shown his quality. He gets a lot of credit for his goals but not as much as he should for his workrate.
“He’s experienced in the league but still a young boy. He’s a lot of games under his belt and played at a top level. As young lads, we tried to take a leaf out of his book. He’s a great professional. Personally, I love to play with him. I’m able to feed off him because his hold-up play is unbelievable. I love running off him and everything he does.
“I said at the start of the season that we needed to get to know each other’s game. We had a lot of new lads come in and the performances in the first nine games were there but results probably weren’t. Once we started to gel, finding out about each other’s games and strengths, we improved a lot. Georgie and I have a connection and a lot more chemistry. We spend more time together in the dressing-room, having a bit of craic. Everybody in the squad is very close, we’ve always been at Bohs and we love playing with each other.”
This breakthrough year has also brought international recognition for Tierney, who was called up to the Irish U21 camp in June following an injury to club-mate Dawson Devoy. He made an instant impact, coming off the bench to score in his sole appearance against Australia.
“I’m loving my football at Bohs and anything outside of that is a bonus. I wasn’t in the 21s at the start and Dawson was and unfortunately he got injured, but I was glad to get the call-up. I played five minutes and scored, so I was happy.
“I don’t pick the squad, I just try to get myself into it. I know if I play well with Bohs that everything else will take care of itself.”
