Match-winner Matt Doherty insists his relationship with Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson is healthy after "a rocky start".
The Wolves full-back was left out of the squad for the games against Finland and Greece last October and admitted afterwards he felt "disrespected".
However, it's all water under the bridge now.
Having scored the winner against Bulgaria in the Nations League promotion/relegation play-off first leg on Thursday night, Doherty was in upbeat mood.
"At the moment things are all good," he told RTÉ Sport.
"We have a good relationship. Obviously, we got off to a bit of a rocky start at the start of the relationship but everything seems fine now. We're both calm and enjoying each other's company."
Doherty bravely headed home Josh Cullen's diagonal pass in the first half to give the Boys in Green a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish. They welcome Bulgaria to Dublin for the second leg on Sunday in control of the tie as they aim to preserve their League B status.
"Yeah, the goal wasn't bad," he smiled, acknowledging he had to take a clatter from the goalkeeper for his troubles.
"I think the run was the easy part, Josh did all the work with that pass. It was great vision from him.
"I'm fine. My ear is a bit sore, I think my ears popped or something, Five minutes after I was shaking my head around. The keeper came out worse, he went off at half-time.
"I think we believed already that we could come here and win. Belief wasn't a problem. But we know it's only halfway through, there's still a lot of work to do. We're a little disappointed it only finished 2-1, we were wanting to push and kind of put the game to bed. A bit disappointed in the second half but happy to win obviously."
Matt Doherty says he doesn't feel disrespected by manager Heimir Hallgrímsson anymore after he admits they 'got off to a little bit of a rocky start'.
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Finn Azaz echoed a lot of Doherty's sentiments while also savouring his own contribution on the night.
Azaz got the equaliser, while producing an excellent first-half showing that earned him the man of the match award.
"The conditions were tough, the pitch was quite tough to play on," he said.
"I think we're still building. The confidence is still building, and we'll take a lot from it. We created a lot of chances, dominated large parts of the first half and then it was just about game management in the second half."