Damien Duff saluted his Shelbourne team's resolve after they came through an ill-tempered UEFA Conference League clash in Gibraltar against St Joseph's on Thursday evening.
Sam Bone's goal earned the Reds a 1-1 draw - and a 3-2 aggregate victory - in the first qualifying round second leg at Europa Point Stadium.
The SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division table-toppers will next face Swiss side FC Zurich, though they will be without Sean Gannon, who was shown a straight red card after a melee in injury-time. That incident angered Duff, who felt his player was hard done by.
Nonetheless, the 45-year-old took great pride in how his side acquitted themselves to progress in a continental competition for the first time since 2006.
"I've been mad on Gibraltar history for the last two, three days," he said. "I believe there's been 14 wars, 14 battles, 14 seizes whatever they're called, and I told the guys, this could well be the 15th. It ended up being that, and we came out on top.
"They just know how to play the conditions. Win, lose or draw we were never going to use that as an excuse but stifling heat, really tricky pitch, dry, everything, like I said. They know how to play it, and we just found a way. We had the luck of the Irish, definitely at times in the first half and maybe near the second, but I think we had chances as well.
"People see Gibraltar... and they just think of the football here and that it'll be easy. It's not easy. I've never seen an easy game here. It's an absolutely incredible night for the lcub, the players and the fans. It's a special night for them and I'm very pleased for them."
Commenting on the incident that saw Gannon get his marching orders, the manager said: "As I always say... it's us against maybe the rest of Ireland, the rest of the world and I think it was true tonight because that decision on the side of the pitch was mindboggling.
"We've seen back the footage. Sean Boyd is in there getting stitches in his nose. It just shows the spirit of the guys that they seen it out.
"I'm glad I didn't get too involved in the melee, my dad would've been giving out to me later. Maybe I'm maturing. I tried to bring a bit of calm to it."
Duff had plenty of family and friends in the stands to watch Shels battle through. It made the result all the sweeter for a manager who is hellbent on bringing the glory days back to Tolka Park.
"It shows the buy-in from my family as well," he added.
"I probably don't give them as much time as I should because of Shelbourne and what have you, but having my wife, my kids, my dad, my two brothers, my in-laws.
"Not many people like their in-laws but I do. I love my in-laws. I was greedy with my tickets, I got eight tickets from the club, but I wanted people here. It's brilliant for them. Most importantly, the guys, the ladies, the kids spending their hard-earned cash, doing anything to get here, it's for them."
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