FOOTBALL: Bohemians manager Keith Long hits back at Kenny Shiels

A second half goal from City's Ronan Curtis made it eight victories in a row over Bohs for the Candy Stripes, but after the game Long was annoyed by the Derry gaffer's remarks he made in Tuesday's Derry Journal.

Shiels stated that he felt the Dubliners are 'pretending they are a part-time side'.

"They pretend they are part-time but they’re not,” claimed Shiels.

“They just train at a different time of the day to us. They train every day but it’s in the evenings.

“They’re getting players who have jobs and they train at night. They cry about this all the time and they’re actually full-time. They’re labouring on the part-time thing to make them feel like underdogs and they’re not underdogs - far from it!”

However after Tuesday night's clash at Dalymount Park, Long hit back at those remarks.

“Kenny is obviously more insightful than I am, maybe he’s trying to deflect from his own team’s ­performances, like managers do.

“He’s the master of mind games so I don’t really pay much attention to it, to be perfectly honest with you.

“The fact is, our boys go to work, while the rest of the teams are resting and recovering. So their recovery is more controlled.

“We do train as much as the full-time teams, but we’re not full-time and there’s an absolutely ­significant difference. So he’s actually incorrect and a little bit disrespectful towards us."

When Long was told about Shiels' comments that Bohs will be challenging for a European place or even the league title, he was far from happy.

“What’s he on about? What’s he ­smoking? Kenny can say all he wants but he should talk about his own team, not ours.”