'It's a week on the gargle' - Damien Duff defends half time rant but hits out at mid-season break

Irish Examiner

2 days ago

In this day and age, where camera phones are everywhere, it's hard to get away with much. Particularly when you're a high-profile figure such as Damien Duff.
And that again proved to be the case on Friday night as during the half-time break, when Duff thought he was having an angry word or four with his players in the privacy dressing room, opportunistic City fans were lingering outside the small window at the back of the Shed recording footage.
Despite the scoreline remaining at 0-0, Duff clearly wasn't pleased at the performance of his players as City had dominated throughout the opening 45.
"I was wondering why people. . . I haven't done that in a long time, and I wasn't planning it, but sometimes you are driven towards it," admitted Duff, who was surprised to learn in the aftermath of their 1-1 draw that the audio had been doing the rounds on social media.
Live scenes from Turners Cross as Damien 😈 delivers the half time team talk pic.twitter.com/ddD6pckmkY — The Other 3 Amigos Podcast (@TheOther3Amigos) May 30, 2025
"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.
"Does it worry me? It's not the time to worry or dwell, it's the time to act. We made changes, but an incredible flatness, which I find incredible, 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. 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, and they got in at 0-0."
The stalemate on Leeside leaves the champions in fifth place, nine points adrift of Shamrock Rovers at the top of the Premier Division.
Asked about the challenge his club now faces in order to retain their crown and if it is achievable, Duff admitted: "I think it is in this league.
"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.
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"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."
The City clash officially marked the half-way point in the League of Ireland season, with the players now getting the opportunity to go on holiday before returning to action in two week's time.
"Our lads have different amounts of time off," added Duff, who recently described this mid-season break as "amateurish."
"Different players have different loads during the season. The staff will be in with some players from the middle of next week, you don't need to know who they are. 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 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."