Damien Duff doubles down on Kerr McInroy praise after seeing him bag late winner vs St Patrick's Athletic

The Irish Sun

10-05-2025

DAMIEN DUFF doubled down on his praise of Kerr McInroy and insisted his half-time triple change was no gamble.
McInroy's
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It was a much-needed win for them after a run of five games without a victory
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The Ireland legend clearly thinks very highly of McInroy's ability
Stephen Bradley's dismissal of Duff's claim that the Scot was the best midfielder in the League
Duff described it as nonsense and tried to draw a line under it by saying it was time to keep schtum.
But he had already alluded to it when asked about McInroy with the player within earshot.
Duff said: 'He's a goal-scoring midfielder.
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'Here, in this league you need to be careful what you say about Kerr. The quote when he signed, all the character traits I said about him, I don't bulls**. It is him.
'He's in the room now. So I was speaking to him. These types of people don't come along very often, but I was also speaking to the rest of my players - 'this is what you should be like every day. Not just game day, every day'.
'So I do think about what I say. Yeah, Kerr was brilliant. He's a f***ing brilliant player, end of story.
'If there's a slight on Kerr, he's probably too quiet. He's a leader, he's come in, he's been brilliant, he's taken the club by storm but he's still quiet.
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'I could hear Mark Coyle five rooms away screaming at half-time and that's what I want.
"I could hear Coyler screaming, tearing the heads off people and that's what I want, we're champions, I want men in the dressing room.
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'We came in, we explained the shape, the shape change, and there's not really a lot else you can do. I could feel nerves off them, a bit of edginess.
'As bizarre as it sounds, they may need an arm around the shoulder and help because winning the league is new and defending the league is new.
'They are there to be shot at, they are coming off the back of a bad few weeks. They don't need me and Joey O'Brien to tear strips off them.
'I know you all look at me like I'm going up there throwing pots and pans. I can't remember the last time I screamed in a dressing room.'
Nevertheless, he took decisive action with Tyreke Wilson, Sam Bone and John Martin all substituted.
Four days previously he had made two changes just after the half-hour mark and a third at the interval.
But Duff said: 'It wasn't a gamble. Guys being taken off, firstly can't take it personal and secondly, if you're going to waste a half of football you might as well come and sit beside me.
'The guys weren't bad but they can be better. They brought an energy, but they can bring more energy.
'I think we have wasted a lot of moments this season, wasted a lot of minutes. I didn't see it as a gamble, I saw it clear as day.
'The whole of Tolka thinking 'Jesus he's at it again'. The other day, it wasn't a gamble taking two lads off on 30, on another day it would have won us the game.
'The first action is Ali Coote crossing for John Martin, the second action was Coote playing Martin down the line when an official wrongly put his flag up, so that wasn't a gamble. I know when I gamble, and they ain't gambles.'
SAW RED
The idea of sitting beside Duff is hard to imagine as he has no need for a place on the bench.
Although he barely reacted when McInroy's goal went in, that was at odds with his demeanour for the rest of the game.
He could be heard cursing one of his own players, deriding the ability of an opponent and screaming 'you had one f***ing job' at the fourth official after he was yellow-carded for being out of his technical area when opposite number
Duff said: 'Are we rating my performance on the side now as well? I was more emotional in the second half, trying to drive the lads on with their press.
'It's not always a sexy pass or a dribble that gets people off their feet, sometimes it's a tackle.
'The guys mirror my emotion. I need to be emotional on the side but it wasn't really emotional at my players, I think I was obviously trying to manage Shelbourne Football Club, coach Shelbourne Football Club but I was trying to ref the game, because I thought it needed help.
'I want to run Irish football, I want to do everything but there's obviously not enough time. There was emotion but it wasn't at the players.'