DAMIEN DUFF REPEATED his unhappiness with the League of Ireland’s mid-season break as his Shelbourne side signed off on the first half of the season with a 1-1 draw away to Cork City.
With no league action for a fortnight, many players will now head away on holidays with friends and family, a custom Duff this week described as “amateurish.”
Some of Duff’s players are now jetting away, although those with fewer minutes played across the season so far will report to training from the middle of next week.
“I don’t like it”, said Duff.
“There’s an air of the jolly boys are out: they are meeting at the terminal tomorrow, they are meeting at the pub in the terminal. It’s a week on the gargle. That’s not the football education I had in England.
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“People probably think I am unfair saying it. I think it’s ingrained in the culture here. It’s ingrained in my guys, I fought tooth and nail with my guys, I am not happy with some of my guys on it, but that’s for another day. But they have had a different football education to what I’ve had, I was taught differently and that’s why it doesn’t sit right with me.”
Shels came from behind to earn a point away to second-from-bottom Cork City, with Ali Coote’s strike cancelling out Sean Maguire’s headed opener. Though Maguire’s goal came shortly after the break, Cork were the dominant side in the opening half, with Duff reacting by raising the volume in the dressing room and making a triple substitution.
“I haven’t done that in a long time and I wasn’t planning it, but sometimes you are driven towards it”, said Duff. “You can talk tactics, subs, but sometimes when a manager vents it’s for themselves. That wasn’t for myself. It was to get a reaction out of them, to get a jolt out of them. Does it usually work? No. Did it work in the second half? We were better. Was it because of that? I don’t know. It could have been the subs, it could have been our application.
“The first half wasn’t a Shelbourne performance, it wasn’t a performance befitting champions. To win a league again and be up there or thereabouts again, you need a bigger edge, everything has to be better than the year before and it hasn’t been, and that’s why we are where we are.
“We made changes, but an incredible flatness, which I find incredible. [We had] an amazing training week, I complimented them on it yesterday before training. Training again was excellent, it was a training week that I;ve seen when I’ve been at elite clubs, where everyone trains with an edge, togetherness, driving each other on.
“Unbelievable quality all week and then maybe they thought they could roll into Turner’s Cross and turn Cork over. It doesn’t happen like that in Turner’s Cross. Maybe they have stopped listening, I don’t know.”
Duff’s champions arrive at the break in fifth position in the table, nine points off leaders Shamrock Rovers.
Asked if he believed that gap to be bridgeable, Duff replied, “I think it is in this league.
“A good three weeks and that’s what Rovers have done, and pulled away. We have certainly dropped a lot of points along the way with basic individual errors when we have dominated games. Different story here, counter-attack goal brilliant from Sean’s point of view, awful from ours.
“I love challenges, it gets me excited. Here, if it doesn’t excite our players and the club, the second half of the season, be it the FAI Cup, Europe or chasing Rovers down, then they are in the wrong place. Nine points, it’s a pretty big gap but if you have a decent fortnight in the League of Ireland you can claw it back.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a big challenge. I have always embraced big challenges. Taking over Shelbourne Football Club was a hell of a big challenge. Cup final the first year, Europe the second year, won the league the third year, they are big challenges but we overcome them, because that’s what we do.”
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'It's a week on the gargle. That's not the football education I had in England'
DAMIEN DUFF REPEATED his unhappiness with the League of Ireland’s mid-season break as his Shelbourne side signed off on the first half of the season with a 1-1 draw away to Cork City.
With no league action for a fortnight, many players will now head away on holidays with friends and family, a custom Duff this week described as “amateurish.”
Some of Duff’s players are now jetting away, although those with fewer minutes played across the season so far will report to training from the middle of next week.
“I don’t like it”, said Duff.
“There’s an air of the jolly boys are out: they are meeting at the terminal tomorrow, they are meeting at the pub in the terminal. It’s a week on the gargle. That’s not the football education I had in England.
“People probably think I am unfair saying it. I think it’s ingrained in the culture here. It’s ingrained in my guys, I fought tooth and nail with my guys, I am not happy with some of my guys on it, but that’s for another day. But they have had a different football education to what I’ve had, I was taught differently and that’s why it doesn’t sit right with me.”
Shels came from behind to earn a point away to second-from-bottom Cork City, with Ali Coote’s strike cancelling out Sean Maguire’s headed opener. Though Maguire’s goal came shortly after the break, Cork were the dominant side in the opening half, with Duff reacting by raising the volume in the dressing room and making a triple substitution.
“I haven’t done that in a long time and I wasn’t planning it, but sometimes you are driven towards it”, said Duff. “You can talk tactics, subs, but sometimes when a manager vents it’s for themselves. That wasn’t for myself. It was to get a reaction out of them, to get a jolt out of them. Does it usually work? No. Did it work in the second half? We were better. Was it because of that? I don’t know. It could have been the subs, it could have been our application.
“The first half wasn’t a Shelbourne performance, it wasn’t a performance befitting champions. To win a league again and be up there or thereabouts again, you need a bigger edge, everything has to be better than the year before and it hasn’t been, and that’s why we are where we are.
“We made changes, but an incredible flatness, which I find incredible. [We had] an amazing training week, I complimented them on it yesterday before training. Training again was excellent, it was a training week that I;ve seen when I’ve been at elite clubs, where everyone trains with an edge, togetherness, driving each other on.
“Unbelievable quality all week and then maybe they thought they could roll into Turner’s Cross and turn Cork over. It doesn’t happen like that in Turner’s Cross. Maybe they have stopped listening, I don’t know.”
Duff’s champions arrive at the break in fifth position in the table, nine points off leaders Shamrock Rovers.
Asked if he believed that gap to be bridgeable, Duff replied, “I think it is in this league.
“A good three weeks and that’s what Rovers have done, and pulled away. We have certainly dropped a lot of points along the way with basic individual errors when we have dominated games. Different story here, counter-attack goal brilliant from Sean’s point of view, awful from ours.
“I love challenges, it gets me excited. Here, if it doesn’t excite our players and the club, the second half of the season, be it the FAI Cup, Europe or chasing Rovers down, then they are in the wrong place. Nine points, it’s a pretty big gap but if you have a decent fortnight in the League of Ireland you can claw it back.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a big challenge. I have always embraced big challenges. Taking over Shelbourne Football Club was a hell of a big challenge. Cup final the first year, Europe the second year, won the league the third year, they are big challenges but we overcome them, because that’s what we do.”
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Damien Duff League of Ireland opposing view Shelbourne Soccer