Joe Quigley is fired up to be a hit at Maidstone after his Wembley disappointment.

Striker Quigley was part of the Boreham Wood team beaten 2-1 by Tranmere in last season’s play-off final.

Wood played virtually the entire match against 10 men but couldn’t take advantage.

Quigley, who was on loan from Bournemouth at the time, said: “We were unlucky in the play-off final.

“Looking back we probably should have done better but during the game there were certain things that didn’t quite go our way.

“We had a good little run that got us in the play-offs and then we did really well to get to the final.

“Wembley is something I’ll never forget. As a kid you dream of playing at Wembley, so it was nice to tick that off.

“That red card changed the game massively.

"It sounds weird but sometimes a player getting sent off goes against you because the other team work much harder and they get a lot more organised, so they were tough to break down.

“What happened has fired me up for this season, definitely.

“I had 20-25 minutes and thought I did well, so that should stand me in good stead.”

Quigley, 21, joined Maidstone following his release by Premier League Bournemouth.

He’d been with the Cherries since their League 2 days, enjoying the ride to the top flight.

But it became clear the first team was out of reach so the striker, whose former loan clubs include Gillingham, was happy to move on.

He said: “It comes to a stage where you know it’s coming so you can get your head round it quite easily.

“I’ve been on loan for three years, since I was a second-year scholar, so it wasn’t the hardest one to take.

“It wasn’t like I was in the team playing.

“I was there when they just survived in League 2 and it just shows where you can get if you work hard.”

Quigley made his debut for the Republic of Ireland under-21s in March, a 3-1 win over Iceland.

He would love to work his way through to Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane’s senior team.

He said: “If you look at our squad, a few of them have kicked on and there’s always a pathway to go through.

“I haven’t met Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane but I know they come to our games so we’ve seen them about.

“It would be great to work under those two.”