Timeline: Cup finals, Europe and league glory - Damien Duff's time at Shelbourne

Irish Daily Mirror

3 hours ago

The news on Sunday of Damien Duff's decision to quit Shelbourne has rocked the League of Ireland, where his profile has helped to lift the domestic game to new heights.
Capped 100 times for Ireland and a two-time Premier League winner with Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, the Ballyboden ace took on his first senior management role when he was appointed as Shelbourne boss.
But it wasn't a straightforward recruitment process and it required some convincing by Shels officials before he stepped up from his academy role.
It turned out to be a great appointment as the club improved season-on-season under Duff, but their struggles this year in the defence of their Premier Division title took a toll on the 46-year-old.
After last Friday's defeat to Derry City, he laid into his players in an explosive interview.
And on Sunday morning, he told his squad of his decision to step down.
Reds officials, having convinced him to change his mind and take the role in the first place, will attempt to draw another u-turn from the Boys in Green legend.
Here's a look back at his time in coaching and management so far.
Having cut his coaching teeth in the Shamrock Rovers academy, with the Ireland Under-15s, Celtic's reserves and then first-team, Stephen Kenny's senior Ireland side and finally Shelbourne's Under-17s, Duff took over from Ian Morris to become the Reds' first-team manager.
He turned down the role at first but was convinced to change his mind. On his appointment, he spoke of his fondness for coaching at youth level, but added that he was keen to 'build something' at Shels.
Duff was taking over a newly promoted side. Shels, under Morris, won the First Division title, but the club wanted a change at the top. His first competitive game in charge was a 3-0 home defeat to St Patrick's Athletic, but he won his second game, away to Drogheda United.
Shels finished seventh in the Premier Division, but they reached the FAI Cup final, beating Bray Wanderers, Bonagee United, Bohemians and Waterford along the way. A first piece of silverware remained elusive, however, as Derry City hammered the Reds 4-0 at the Aviva Stadium.
Shels' league form improved greatly in season two under Duff and they finished fourth in the Premier Division. Third placed St Patrick's Athletic's FAI Cup win meant their league place was enough to secure Europa Conference League football. It was the club's first time back in European competition in 18 years.
In the FAI Cup they could not match the performance of the previous year and exited at the first time of asking, in a 1-0 defeat to Bohs.
Duff looked set to leave Shelbourne during the club's brief spell under the ownership of Hull City's Turkish owner Acun Ilicali. He became majority shareholder in June of that year, but under Ilicali there was uncertainty over Duff's future at the club.
Duff, whose contract was up, claimed that he did not know what was happening behind the scenes and there was uncertainty over who had control of player recruitment.
Amid fan anger at the potential departure of their manager, Ilicali handed back control of Shels at the end of the season and Duff signed a new deal.
A season Shels supporters will never forget. The Reds made a blistering start to the new campaign, winning six of their first seven games, and remaining unbeaten until their 10th match of the campaign - a 2-1 defeat to Bohemians.
That start helped them navigate a sticky run-in, during which they claimed just one victory in 10 games before returning to form and winning their final three. A 1-0 win in Derry on the final day, thanks to Harry Wood's late goal, saw off a resurgent Shamrock Rovers and earned Shels their first title in 20 years.
In the FAI Cup, Shels lost to Derry City in the quarter-finals, while in Europe they made it past St Joseph's of Gibraltar in the first qualifying round, winning 3-2 on aggregate, but lost out in the second-round to FC Zurich (0-3).
The year started well for the champions. A President's Cup win over Drogheda United signalled that more good times were ahead. And they kicked off their campaign with back-to-back wins against Derry City (3-1) and Waterford (1-0), before drawing against Shamrock Rovers and Galway United.
A first defeat of the term came against Drogheda, but their struggles were largely down to a series of draws - nine in 22 games to date. Only Shamrock Rovers and Drogheda have lost fewer games than Shels so far.
With a Champions League campaign looming, and in the wake of Friday's defeat to Derry City, Duff made the shock decision to step down from his role.