Damien Duff & Stephen Kenny offer strong take on Drogheda United's exclusion from Europa Conference League
DAMIEN DUFF and Stephen Kenny had different takes on the match between their sides - but were united in their sympathy for Drogheda United.
Duff's Shelbourne inflicted St Pat's first home defeat in 12 months
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Shelbourne beat Pat's 1-0 at Richmond Park
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United's appeal to CAS was rejected yesterday
The Reds boss reckoned his side deserved the win for how they played with the ball in the first half and without it in the second whilst Kenny reckoned his team's efforts after the break deserved a reward.
But both men were in agreement that it was rough on Kevin Doherty and his players to be excluded from Europe after Drogheda fell foul of Uefa rules which prevents clubs with the same owner participating in the same competition.
Duff said: 'I'm gutted for them, gutted for them, for the league. For Kevin, he's a great guy. A good ex-Shels man.
'There's a lot of players there that I'm really, really fond of. They mightn't be fond of me letting them go. But I am, even Ryan Brennan. I let him go and there's always been that bit of friction.
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'I want to see his quality and the servant he's been to the league, to Shelbourne, to Drogheda. I want to see him in Europe.
'So we always think - I don't know the ins and outs - that common sense will prevail, here, come on, let them in. But it hasn't. So I'm gutted for them and I'm gutted for the league also.'
Kenny added: 'They've earned it by winning the Cup, and the multi-club model, whether you're in favour of it or not, there are examples, of course, where the clubs have managed to bypass the rules for whatever reason on technical grounds.
'The fact that no other club can take their place, it's a blow for Irish football but the main people it affects, obviously, are Drogheda, and I'm sure they're disappointed.'
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Shels had failed to win any of their six previous away games before Monday's victory but Duff was in no doubt it was deserved.
He said: 'I think both sides of the game is why we deserved to win the game. We were brilliant in the first half with the ball. We showed our quality, showed why we're champions.
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'And the second half, here, couldn't string two passes together.
"It was the other side of us, of champions and of how to win a football match. Just working hard for each other, connected, defensively sound.
"I don't think they cut through us. So there's a beauty in it. There's a beauty in it for sure and we take great pride in it.
'We felt calm without the ball. That was the other reason why I think we deserve to win.'
KENNY PERSPECTIVE
Kenny, who briefly had Duff as a coach during his time as Ireland boss, had a different view.
He said: 'I think the second half was absolute waves of attack.
'Shelbourne kept the ball in their own half a little bit early in the match, but we were never under any pressure and obviously the goal was a deflected effort.
'From our point of view, we should have dealt with it better. And after that, there was just one half chance, that was it, really.
'So, to lose the game on that is very, very difficult to accept.
'In the second half. I thought we showed a lot of quality in our passing and good individual wing play and I was just disappointed that we couldn't score, couldn't get that elusive finish.
"We looked like we were in quite a high number of times, so we're disappointed.
'We knew a win would have put us in second place, but we didn't win, and that's ultimately down to ourselves.'
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