‘It's a week on the gargle' – Damien Duff slams LOI mid-season break after half-time rant in Shelbourne draw vs Cork

The Irish Sun

2 days ago

DAMIEN DUFF let loose on his Shelbourne players with a half-time tirade during their 1-1 draw against Cork City.
A fan
video
from outside the Turner's Cross
changing rooms
caught some of Duff's 'ranting and raving' through an open window after a below-par first half.
2
Shelbourne drew 1-1 with Cork City
Credit: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile
2
Damien Duff slammed his team's performance
Credit: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile
Duff said of his half-time rant: 'I haven't done that in a long time, and I wasn't planning it, but sometimes you are driven towards it.
'You can talk tactics and 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.
'Does it usually
work
? No. Did it work in the second half? We were better. Was it because of that? I don't know.
Read More on Shelbourne
'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. That's why we are where we are.'
Duff also admitted that he 'fought tooth and nail' with some of his players over their
holidays
.
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When asked about the mid-season break, he replied: 'I have never liked it. The flipside is it has come at a good time for us as it's a time for reflection, but I don't like it.
'There's an air of the jolly boys out. 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
Shelbourne manager Damien Duff gives sweet birthday shoutout to his mother after his side's draw against St Pat's
'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.'
At the league's halfway mark, fifth-placed Shels
remain
nine points behind front-runners
He stressed: 'There's a long way to go. We are still alive and kicking. We still have a heartbeat, and I know it because they are great guys.
'We have certainly dropped a lot of points along the way with basic individual errors when we have dominated games. Different story here.
'I love challenges. It gets me excited. 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 is 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.'
SUBS STANDARD
For the second time in the past month, Duff made a triple substitution at half-time, including the return of Paddy Barrett in defence.
Duff warned: 'It could have been more. Absolutely could have been more.
'We can't
waste
45 minutes. We talk about not wasting a moment, an action, you can't waste a half of football.
'It's a common theme here: if you waste a half, you are coming off.
'They are not decisions which should make you nervous or afraid of giving the ball away. When lads come off lacking
energy
and spark, and there's a flatness about them, that's why.
'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. Sure, we got a reaction in the second half, and even in the first half, you can say we showed resilience getting in at 0-0 because the
fire
was coming.'