Latest news with #Duff
Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Stuart Byrne: Shels can't take eye off the ball in Europe, like my team did
The single worst thing Shelbourne can do is mention the word Qarabag. Not with a difficult Champions League tie against Linfield to overcome Duff was speaking yesterday about how all talk of Linfield is banned for now, what with Derry up tonight and a trip to Waterford on Monday. Shels are off the pace at home and have work to do to get back into the league title conversation, so you can understand it. But behind the scenes, there will be plenty of Linfield chatter and I don't mind that because these European nights are what it's all about. But don't look beyond Linfield. Don't be thinking or talking about Qarabag in the second round because football will bite you in the arse. And I know this from two lowest moments in football were Shelbourne's 2005 Setanta Cup final defeat to Linfield, closely followed by our Champions League loss to Hibs of Malta in 2002. We took our eye off the ball in between the two legs, and that should be a lesson to the current team. Now, we are talking about extremes and there isn't a chance a modern day team would prepare for a European game like we did that year. Click this link or scan the QR code to receive the latest League of Ireland news and top stories from the Irish Mirror. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. First of all, a travel cock-up meant we ended up in Malta for almost an entire week around the first-leg. George Best and his wife Alex were lounging around the pool on holidays, which was pretty surreal in itself. But we were there for too long and curfews were broken left, right and centre with lads on the beer, all of which caused friction in the group. When we did eventually get home, we played Manchester United in a friendly at Tolka Park just a few days before the home leg against Hibs. And as I've mentioned before, it wasn't any old friendly - but Roy Keane's first game since the explosive Saipan World Cup bust-up and the game was a media circus. It was carnage and no sort of preparation at should have beaten Hibs with one eye closed because you've never seen such a one-sided European game. But we made a balls of it. We knew going into the tie that we'd play Boavista in the next round and they were one of the biggest Portuguese teams at the time. Just knowing that was a distraction as lads were obsessed with their financial bonuses and all sorts. Throw everything else that happened that week into the mix and it was car crash could have been there until Sunday and we wouldn't have scored against Hibs. It still haunts me now. So if Duffer hears anyone talking about Qarabag, he needs to give them a slap because Linfield are a serious outfit. I don't care if they're out of season, there's no such thing as an easy draw in the Champions League. You take all the politics and religion out of it, and nobody can deny that Linfield are a great club. Their history and heritage speaks for itself.I've spoken before about the monotonous dedication you need to be a footballer at the highest level in Ireland. It's bloody hard work, but these are your rewards. These are the games that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The added spice of an All-Island rivalry is healthy. There will be a lot of weight and emotion going into the game and Shelbourne just need to focus on themselves and make sure they don't take their eye off the for RTE to step upOne more point on this mouthwatering Champions League clash - RTE have to be all over have women's Euro 2025 commitments at the same time, but I don't care and I don't want to hear the excuses. I don't want to be watching England v Netherlands, or France v Wales which are down to be played on the same night as the Tolka Park game on July pay our licence fee for a reason and RTE Sport have a duty to cover Irish football Get the wallet out and get it for DroghedaI've been thinking a lot this week about Drogheda United and their European heartbreak. It's like your hands have been tied, a blanket is put over your head and you're thrown in the back of a van. You're helpless and there's nothing you can do about it. But you know what? Rules are a personal level, I'm disappointed for my old team-mate Kevin Doherty and I'm sure he won't feel any better for me saying that I'd say his head is in a spin. Hopefully Drogheda's owners are sticking around but with these multi-club ownership rules here to stay, you'd wonder what their motivation is if this is the outcome?As a footballer you strive to be the best you can be and here in Ireland, that's winning trophies and getting into Europe. When that's taken away from you it must have an enormous emotional toll.I was very lucky to play on successful League of Ireland teams and enjoyed great European flights - but I can count them on one hand. I was having lunch in town with my wife a few weeks ago and a fella walking by stopped to chat about football for 30 seconds, and it was all about European games of you're telling me now that Drogheda can't play in Europe, then I'd wonder what the American owners see in this. But I'm sure Kevin Doherty will use it all as motivation.I've always felt that to win a league, you can't really afford to lose more than five games. Now, Shels proved that wrong last year, but five is my guideline. Drogheda have only lost four times this season and they're not going away. They're showing that winning the FAI Cup was no fluke and they have something about the next season or two, the goal for these Drogheda United players is to win the league title and here's hoping the owners stick around and back roar? Lions bore!Batten down the hatches. Cover your ears, close your eyes because the Lions are coming and don't you just dread it. The hobby of the upper class. The most ridiculous sport ever invented. The poshest of the posh. The pretentiousness of the ... ok, you know what I 'that' time again. The time when Irish, Scottish, English and Welsh people come together and deliberately forget about their repressive past for the purpose of, what? Padraig Pearse and William Wallace would be turning in their graves. Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email.
The 42
4 hours ago
- Sport
- The 42
Duff, Kenny and Bradley face different battles with Europe on horizon
TWO IMAGES STOOD out after Shelbourne's 1-0 win away to St Patrick's Athletic on Monday night. The first was when Damien Duff dropped to his knees and bowed down in front of the travelling supporters at Richmond Park. Those rival fans using this as an attempt to point out his hypocrisy over his row with Stephen Bradley about winning with class were misguided. The Shels boss had no issue with his Shamrock Rovers counterpart celebrating the previous Friday's 2-1 victory at Tolka Park by gathering his squad in front of the away end and saluting them. As also became clear after further inquiries over the course of this week, it wasn't even just that the Rovers players chose to blare the Mauro Picotto tune Komodo (a Shels anthem) from their dressing room while Duff's players began the post-mortem that was the sole source of ire. Other issues along the corridor that houses both dressing rooms, like switching on and off lights and banging doors, was deemed a bit excessive. Duff salutes the Shels fans. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO Regardless, the row among two men who have a shared history as colleagues at Rovers and then League of Ireland rivals that has led to their relationship breaking down was old news by full-time on Monday. That is when the second image, captured just seconds before Duff saluted the fans, caught the eye. Duff made a beeline for Paddy Barrett and gripped the centre back with a kind of intense, teeth-grinding hug. The big Waterford man, who was tied down to a new contract in the weeks prior to winning the Premier Division season, has endured a rotten campaign with injury, a torn quad during an 11 v 11 training game ruling him out for 11 weeks, but his return to fitness just before the mid-season break could not have been more timely. The big man is back and Duff loves him. Advertisement Duff embraces Paddy Barrett. Dan Clohessy / INPHO Dan Clohessy / INPHO / INPHO 'I keep on saying the dirty side but it's a beautiful side, I love it. I feel like we lost that, we went away from that side and just to show that side again I think that was the most pleasing thing,' Barrett said of Shels' ability to put their bodies on the line for the win over Pat's in the second half, after outclassing them in the first. 'Look, nobody said it to me, nobody's pulled it up. I just think it did leave us. And I think that's why obviously results haven't been going our way. We've been conceding sloppy goals, individual mistakes, collectively. That's not us. We grind out results when we need to. Hopefully going forward we can still keep on showing that side when it's needed.' No wonder Duff looked so enthused to have Barrett back in the heart of defence. The European draws over the following two days also brought into focus a new dynamic to the season for three of the most high profile managers in the country: Duff, Bradley, and Stephen Kenny at St Pat's. Even before they drew Linfield in the first round of Champions League qualifying, Duff didn't agree with the assertion that a positive European campaign could energise his players and lead to improved performances domestically. He bristled at such a suggestion and instead chose to put the emphasis on players needing to have the mentality to go and attack every game regardless. Duff already turned down one approach from an English club to discuss their vacant manager's position earlier this season and masterminding the kind of European success that Kenny and Bradley have proven capable of will surely increase the profile of just how impressive a job he has done at Tolka Park. Beating Linfield ensures three ties as a minimum in Europe (due to the champions' path) and would mean the least Shels can look forward to is a play-off to reach the league phase of the Uefa Conference League. That is the kind of forward thinking everyone except managers and players talk about. Duff's stature as a player with Chelsea and others in the Premier League, not to mention 100 caps for the Republic of Ireland, was never something he sought to use a shortcut. He has been earning his stripes since the 6am training sessions with Shamrock Rovers' U15s and there is no doubt that taking Shels into the league phase of European football would bring a different kind of spotlight. Bradley got a sense of that when Millwall came looking for him in the days before Rovers played Chelsea just before last Christmas. They still had the knockout stages of the Conference League to come and a repeat of such an achievement would feel even greater this year given there is no room for error once they start in the second qualifying of the competition against either Cliftonville or St Joseph's of Gibraltar. Other job opportunities have also been passed on by Bradley and he spoke with Off The Ball in a series of interviews recently about ending a video interview with the FAI top brass over the then vacant senior men's manager's job because they were 15 minutes late for the call. That was down to basic respect but also a man who knows his value, and a trust in his ability borne out be achievements that others are aware of it too. He's only just turned 40 and could potentially take charge in a third European group/league with the same club that he has on course for a fifth league title in six seasons. By any metric that is a clear indication of a managerial star on the rise, and masterminding more tactically astute and confident performances in Europe will only serve to reinforce the sense that Bradley is someone whose story has barely begun. So what of the post-Ireland chapter for Kenny? It definitely felt as thought Europe enthused him as he began to adapt to life with St Pat's back in the League of Ireland. Some of the performances and results harked back – somewhat – to the days at Dundalk ahead of their Europa League adventure in 2016. Mason Melia stood out to such a degree that Everton, Celtic and Tottenham Hotspur all firmed up their interest, with the latter eventually agreeing a transfer that could eventually rise to €4 million for a striker who is still only 17. Kenny took St Pat's to the Conference League play-off against Istanbul Basaksehir and, had they not lost 2-0 in Turkey after a goalless firs leg in Dublin, would have been the first Irish club that weren't champions to reach the group/league phase. Pat's are at a low ebb after Monday's defeat and while those two images involving Duff and Barrett stood out there was a third that also told a story as Kenny and his players went on a lap of appreciation around a ground that seemed restless and frustrated. Lithuania's FC Hegelmann are first up and the Saints really could do with a repeat of last year to provide the impetus required for a strong conclusion to this season. 'It definitely helped us because the tempo and level you were playing and you were bringing that into your league form so it definitely was advantageous, but there's no guarantees you're replicating that,' Kenny said on Monday night. 'You've got to earn the right to do that.'
The Irish Sun
5 hours ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Why does Damien Duff annoy the celebration police so much? People need to relax – unless he goes full Alan Pardew
THE celebration police have been out in force. Advertisement 3 Non Shelbourne fans are growing increasingly fed up of his behaviour 3 He manages to irk people in victory as well as defeat 3 Once the Ireland legend doesn't get to this level we can live with his eccentricities Credit: BBC But social media was quick to pass comment at Duff dropping to his knees to bow to Shels fans after Seriously, who cares? If other people celebrating is all you have to worry about, you cannot complain — as long as no manager crosses the line and does The coefficient nerds — guilty, your Honour — will be busy with the League of Ireland clubs in Europe as Advertisement Read More On Irish Football Rankings are worked out when all the clubs' wins and draws are totted up and then divided by the number of teams in Europe. But, even though there are only three Irish clubs in European competition now, the total will still be divided by four. It means Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers and Rival clubs may not care but it does matter as the League of Ireland is currently ranked 32nd in Europe. Advertisement Most read in Football Live Blog Top-32 sides see their Cup winners go into the Europa League with a parachute into the Conference League. But slip lower and it is Conference League only. Watch Messi score stunning free-kick as Inter Miami stun Porto 2-1m In layman terms, it probably means getting better results than Iceland but expect the stattos to mention Kazakhstan, Bosnia, Finland et al as July becomes August.
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Indo Sport podcast: The Football Show Why nobody likes the Club World Cup
Dan covers Duff's recent anger towards the Shamrock Rovers boss as well as Drogheda missing out on Europe due to a UEFA ruling. Jonathan then explains why Gianni Infantino's club competition isn't drawing the crowds he would have liked in its early stages Football on the Indo Sport podcast is brought to you by Sky Sports. If you'd like to get in touch with the show, email us at indosportpodcast@ You can subscribe to our dedicated Indo Sport YouTube page here. Listen on…. Spotify Apple Podcasts
Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Shelbourne discover next Champions League opponent, if they beat Linfield
Shelbourne will face Qarabag of Azerbaijan in the next round of the Champions League, if they can get past Linfield. If they eliminate the Belfast giants, Damien Duff's charges would be at home in the first-leg of the second qualifying round clash with Qarabag. Qarabag are 12-time champions of Azerbaijan and boast strong European pedigree, having made the group or league phase of competitions every year since 2014. Last season, they reached the league phase of the Europa League and sailed through to the round of 16 in the Europa League in 2023. In 2019, Qarabag beat Dundalk 4-1 on aggregate in the Champions League second qualifying round. And that same year, they edged out Linfield on away goals when they dropped into the Europa League playoff round. Either Shelbourne or Linfield will be at home to Qarabag on July 22/23, with the second-leg scheduled for July 29/30. Click this link or scan the QR code to receive the latest League of Ireland news and top stories from the Irish Mirror. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. But Shels won't lose sight of their big date with Linfield on July 8/9 with a tantalising €2 million Champions League shootout three weeks from now. All-Island bragging rights are also on the line when the League of Ireland champions face the NIFL Premiership kingpins at Tolka Park and then Windsor Park. And Reds boss Damien Duff said yesterday: 'It's a brilliant day for everyone at the football club, especially for those who have been through the dark times. 'Players and staff watched the draw together and there's already a great buzz at the prospect of an All-Ireland derby.' Shels are guaranteed a minimum €1 million in European prize money but knocking Linfield out would almost double that. Beating the Blues would guarantee another three European ties for Duff's men, who found timely form on Monday by beating St Pat's. Duff is ready to strengthen his squad in the transfer window as he knows it will be demanding trying to juggle league commitments with European adventures. And particularly so if Shels unlock the door to the 'champions path' by beating David Healy's Belfast giants. But Duff has the experience of last season's two rounds of the Conference League to lean on and said: 'It's just a mentality thing. 'The big teams all around Europe, yeah, they play on a Wednesday and they're up for the game but they're up for it again on the weekend. It's absolutely alien to our lads, I get that, but it's something that I'll try to hammer home. 'It's not 'Oh, Friday, and we have to go again Monday. Oh, I'm tired'. You're not tired. They're all young boys. A lot of them are still living at home with their mammies getting their washing done, their cooking done. 'You can sleep 20 hours a day if you want to. All I want to see you for is 90 minutes.' And Duff added: 'Mentally, attacking two games a week out of three isn't an elite mindset for me. It's attacking every game.' Linfield are out of season but there won't be any issue getting a handle on such familiar and local opponents as Duff prepares to do his homework. The Ireland legend added: 'I've been an analyst 90% of the time for three years, believe it or not, and 5% manager and 5% coach. This year we've got Martin Doyle in, which is a big help and there's an excitement in that. 'Last year, it was St Joseph's (of Gibraltar) and we were trying to claw footage of them. The next game, Zurich, you're looking at footage and thinking, 'are they that good? Are they that bad?' You go and play them away and they're that f***** good, yeah. 'There'll be an element to that this year, but you can sleep when you're dead.' Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email.
