Shels’ Gannon urged to stand tall and puff his chest out
DAMIEN DUFF has called on Seán Gannon to ‘puff his chest out’ and become a leader at Shelbourne. Gannon, a prolific winner with St Pat’s, Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers, was outstanding in defence as the Reds repelled Sligo Rovers on Friday night to chisel out a 1-0 win and go joint top of the table. ‘That’s why we signed Seán. Such a graceful player. He’s got ten league medals. Maybe he needs to stand tall, puff his chest out a bit more,’ said Duff, who felt Shelbourne passed an ‘ugly’ test in Sligo. ‘It was a brilliant win but our performance with the ball was awful. ‘Bizarrely, we still had the better chances as our substitutes got us up the pitch in the second. ‘We have to do better on the ball, got to keep it better. We don’t want to be sat on the edge of our box. ‘Set-piece plays decide a lot of games and leagues around the world. That’s an assist for Joey (O’Brien). In fairness, it was a great ball in from Liam (Burt).’ The Shelbourne boss denied any suggestion his team are set up to defend. ‘It’s been aimed at us. Come in and see us in training and how we work. ‘That said, you have to defend if you lose the football, which we did in Sligo. ‘Games can be pretty ugly at this time of the season, with pitches and the weather. I said beforehand to the players this might not be pretty and you may have to find a way. And they did.’ Duff has called for his players to ‘bounce into’ tonight’s game with Galway United at Tolka Park. ‘Galway won as well on Friday. John Caulfield, Ollie Horgan, if we’re off it in any way, they’ll do us. We need our supporters to be our 12th man again in Tolka,’ he said. ‘They were brilliant in Sligo. Buses were cancelled but they still found a way to get to the game.’