"I have to admit we're all really glad the Champions League qualifier is behind us now," admitted the Irish international.
"It was definitely the main thing on our minds for the last few weeks, but now everyone can just concentrate solely on the Premiership games, which is how we like it.
"We definitely felt more pressure on ourselves to get into the Champions League this year than in previous years.
"From the moment Maccabi scored that away goal in the first leg, you could see it was going to be really difficult for us to get through.
"In the last few years we've had big results in the first leg and put ourselves in a comfortable position. Obviously it was a lot different this time and we all felt relieved when it was over."