Duff day at the office but we move on
DEBUTANT BOSS DAMIEN SEES POSITIVES DESPITE LOSS
DAMIEN DUFF is hoping the spotlight glare on him will die down so that he can get on with the job.
The Republic of Ireland legend was the centre of attention at a sold out Tolka Park on Friday as he made his senior managerial bow.
But it didn’t go to plan as St Pat’s ran out 3-0 winners, although the FAI Cup holders were flattered by that margin.
Yet Duff insists he couldn’t be prouder of his players and feels there is scope for improvement heading for Drogheda on Friday.
Duff admitted it was a relief to finally get his first game out of the way and said: “I’m glad it’s over. I don’t like the spotlight. I’m sure other managers are going, ‘F ****** Duffer getting it’. But I don’t want it so they can f ****** have it, alright?
“It was still a massive night in my life and for the players it was probably the biggest night some of them played in. Bizarre as it sounds, we’ve lost 3-0, OK we’ll move on but I think it will give them an awful lot of belief. I’m awfully disappointed but also proud of them. I said to them before that I was the proudest man in Ireland walking the squad and the staff out on the pitch.
“That’s how proud I am of them all. They’re just fantastic guys. We’re close-knit. We’ll move on.”
Shelbourne could have been two up before Saints ace Darragh Burns scored his 19th minute wonder goal to flip momentum. But Jack Moylan (inset) showed why he is a Shels star in the making as he could have had a hat-trick on the night. Duff feels the 20-year-old can put his name in lights this season after moving across the city from Bohs – and insists he won’t be alone. “Jack Moylan will score a lot of goals this season,” said the Premier League winner with Chelsea. “Dan Carr has missed a lot so he’s still getting up to speed. Jordan Mceneff, you all know about him, he’s probably missed quite a bit more. “But the way we played at times, the way we created our chances, the things we’ve been working on, the goals will come. We created a lot of chances, got into a lot of dangerous areas. We couldn’t do anything with it but they were brilliant. I don’t think 3-0 is a fair reflection.”
The Burns and Mark Doyle goals came from Shels errors when Dan Hawkins and Mark Coyle coughed up possession with sloppy passes under no pressure.
And Duff said: “We never felt threatened in the game. It was setpieces and transition football. We’re a young team but I don’t want to keep saying they’re a young team with no experience. They’re a young team with a lot of games under their belt. We’ll pick them up and go again.”
SLIGO ROVERS’ home game with Bohemians scheduled for last night was postponed after a failed pitch inspection. The First Division tie between Longford Town and Cobh Ramblers was also called off because of a frozen surface at Bishopsgate.