KEEPING TIME
Shels boss Duff says clock installation part of bigger plan as positive vibe is reminder of past glory
SHELBOURNE supporters will notice a new clock and scoreboard at the Ballybough End of Tolka Park tonight, not far from the corner flag.
It’s not there just for aesthetics but rather as a source of information to his players by Damien Duff, the club’s driven manager.
‘I have been trying for ages to get a scoreboard in. I want the scoreboard as it’s a clock. You are 1-0 up with 20 minutes to go or with one minute to go, you play the game differently,’ he said.
‘Our guys would never know the time and that might be a onepercenter or a ten-percenter. It’s another little thing, an add-on.’
With Duff, it’s all about the little details, just as it was with Giovanni Trapattoni, whom he played under with Ireland from 2008 until 2012.
Last Friday, he felt he was too ‘calm’ in the dressing room ahead of the season’s opener against Waterford.
With champions Shamrock Rovers pitching up tonight for a 4,600 sell-out, he’ll be reaching for the flame thrower.
“Last Friday was a bit too calm for me”
‘You always try to speak to the players in some way emotionally. But then sometimes you might take the sting out of it too much and they’re too calm. So I guess it’s always smelling the room.
‘If anything, last Friday was a bit too calm for me so I’ll be going the other way.’
Two years ago, this fixture would have been a curiosity, the promoted Shelbourne pea-shooter against the green and white Sherman Tanks of Tallaght.
Not so much now. Shels have not only stabilised under Duff in the top flight, they have gone from seventh and the FAI Cup final in 2022, to fourth in 2023.
They will play in Europe again this summer, on the march in the Europa Conference League with the Briogáid Dearg.
The club has also negotiated a deal with Dublin City Council to purchase back the lease of Tolka for €1million.
Coming up to 100 years old, the Drumcondra ground may be creaky in parts, condemned in others, but Shelbourne are getting the keys back, and that’s huge.
Under ‘Duffer’ the mood is one of expectation, not exasperation for this distinguished and decorated club.
‘I want to do better than last season, competing for your thirds, for seconds, for higher up. We always had goals since coming up. We wanted to get to Europe.
‘There’s a couple of big differences this year, there’s a bit of pressure on the players now.
‘I said to them: “How are you going to deal with it? There’s expectations on you now. With expectation comes pressure and how you’re going to deal with it.”
‘I came in, blank canvas, got rid of nearly the whole squad, we painted pretty well for two years. What we have done here, it’s real.’
Duffer is utterly consumed by his job as manager of Shelbourne.
He’s non-stop, applying his knowledge having drawn from a raft of managers, more from Brian Kerr and Roy Hodgson than any others, he said this week, with a favourable mention, too, to Stephen Bradley.
‘I often blame Stephen for getting me into coaching and management. He asked me to come in. I was hanging around like a bad smell; it just got out of control.’
The morning after the draw away to Waterford, Duff was at the AUL, working with the Shelbourne players who hadn’t got a game the night before.
‘I’d have OCD so all I see is what’s in front of me. It (being manager) has given me an amazing focus in my life.
‘Do I miss having a laugh in the dressing room? Yeah, I don’t miss someone singing your name or scoring a goal.
‘I remember Paul O’Connell saying the big regret or miss when he retired was not the dressing room or playing, it was the 24/7 focus, the one bit that always resonated with me, and that is me.
‘That’s what I was put on this earth for — football, football, football,’ he said clicking his fingers.
‘I am very passionate about football.
‘The success of the Irish team going forward is going to rely on how successful and how good the League of Ireland is and how successful and strong the academies are, first and foremost.
‘People might say I’m battering the FAI but maybe for a lot of people in the FAI, not all, it’s a job to them. This isn’t a job to me. It’s my passion.
‘If I didn’t have the league right now, I don’t have focus in my life. If you don’t have focus on your life, life ain’t good.’
The Dubliner has loved every minute of his time at the club, the good, bad and the funny.
‘One time I couldn’t find a toilet. Someone told me the toilets around the side (of the Riverside Stand) were really good. I decided to go to the women’s as I knew they’d be an awful lot cleaner than the men’s.
‘I was in the cubicle and a few women walked in. It was 30 minutes before kick-off and I was stuck in the women’s for about five minutes until they left. I was thinking: “I could give the teamtalk here.”
‘Tolka is home and everyone needs a home. It’s amazing what the club has done in the last few years; it’s grown 100-fold since I have been here.
‘Are you going to make Tolka a mini-Aviva overnight? No, it will cost €100m.
‘Little things I have been pushing, like getting the scoreboard done, like getting a few flags up on the grey, ugly stand that’s condemned.
‘Tweak it, a bit of toilet roll here and there, I will be loitering in the ladies, that’s the headline,’ he smiled.
The positive vibe carries echoes of 2006, when Shels last won the league before crashing off their pedestal.
‘Everything is always 2006 isn’t it?
‘Friday is the biggest attendance at Tolka Park since 2006. So I think it speaks volumes about a) where the League is at and b) where Shelbourne Football Club is at.’
Having helped to wind the clock, Duff intends to stick around to hear it chime.
“The biggest attendance since 2006”