Duff calls it spot on ahead of Oriel visit

DAMIEN Duff is almost regarded as the high priest of the domestic game, with every thought emanating from his lips considered to be “the gospel, according to Damien” and consequently always attracts much publicity.

In many regards, it is understandable from the media’s viewpoint, for the 100-time capped Republic of Ireland winger, who has the medals to prove his credentials, speaks an awful lot of sense, especially in regard to the lack of investment in the League of Ireland.

Only last week, one prominent journalist, writing in the Sunday Independent, referred to Duffer as “the true conscience of Irish football”.

But he’s now proving to be a very capable coach and an inspirational leader for Shelbourne, hauling the club by the shoelaces from the doldrums and collecting an ever-growing fanbase, evident from the fact that they sold out their entire allocation of 500 tickets for Friday night’s game in Oriel Park.

Surprisingly, in his pre-match comments, Duff predicted that his team would face their most difficult game of the season against Dundalk, for he said “you only have to look at some of the names in the Dundalk team, Daryl Horgan is an ex-Irish international, Robbie Benson has won a lot with the club, John Mountney is a Dundalk legend. In addition there is a lot of talent in the team, Andy Boyle, Archie Davies...”

Nor did Duff believe that Dundalk’s position at the bottom of the table had any relevance. “I couldn’t give a damn where they are in the league, for I never underestimated the task because they have a lot of brilliant players.”

Well, as usual, Duff was right, for the unacquainted wandering into Friday’s game would have difficulty in determining the team leading the Premier Division and the side at the bottom.

Indeed, for much of the game, especially in the first half, Dundalk were the better team, creating chances, while Shels were content to sit within their defensive shape, showing little or no attacking ambition.

In that first half, Dundalk tried to match the intensity of their opening 45 minutes against Bohemians the previous week, but Duff’s team is a different proposition for he has them well-drilled as a defensive unit, as evident from their goals conceded tally of just nine in their 14 games.

Nonetheless, Dundalk, roared on by their home support, continually tried to bring the game to the league leaders, stitching together good passages of slick passing and support runs to open up spaces.

Their early chances fell to Scott High, who couldn’t find the accuracy of his finish against Bohs; Jamie Gullan, who narrowly failed to reach an excellent cross from Horgan; and, perhaps, the best attempt of the game by Dundalk came from the hard-working centre-forward when, in the 31st minute, he brilliantly controlled a Mountney cross with his first touch but, unluckily, his well-struck volley was straight at ’keeper Conor Kearns.

Either by luck or just good goalkeeping, Kearns was again in the right place for a Horgan header from Mountney’s cross that lacked the power to surprise the custodian.

Dundalk continued to carve out the best chances in the early part of the second half, with one of those fallowing to the hero from the previous week, Benson, when he availed of a good run by Horgan to take away the cover but just couldn’t curl his effort into the top corner.

It was Benson again who almost broke the deadlock, this time with a blistering attempt from outside the box that had Kearns scrambling across his goal to see the ball whistle narrowly past his upright.

The lack of ambition shown by Shelbourne persisted until the final 10 minutes when the introduction of Shane Farrell and Seán Boyd started to cause the Dundalk defence some problems, with Farrell finding spaces to utilise his ability on the ball and from one pass, he located Boyd whose low finish brought a brilliant one-hand save by George Shelvey.

That Boyd effort came in the 87th minute and was the visitors’ only shot on target, and the lack of goalmouth incident in the game, and the preference by both teams to refrain from playing the ball out from the back meant that there wasn’t a great deal of quality in the game as they relied heavily on the long deliveries.

RUBBISH

That led to some labelling the game as “rubbish” but that assessment ignored the intensity of the contest and determination of both teams to deny the other space.

Duff felt his team gave a “very controlled, professional performance” though he added they lacked a cutting edge, possibly because he shackled his most creative players within the gameplan that was designed to contain rather than entertain.

Dundalk, if only for the fact that they showed a lot more attacking intent, probably deserved to shade it, but they, like Shels, lacked a cutting edge which has been their Achilles heel all season.

That’s not to say that there wasn’t much to admire about their performance, solid at the back with a fourth clean sheet in a row at home, with the back four of Davies, Andy Boyle, Zac Johnson – what a young player – and manof-the-match, the ever-improving Zak Bradshaw, donning a settled, impenetrable look in front of a confident ’keeper Shelvey who was asked to make just the one decent save.

In midfield, Dutch-born midfielder Koen Oosterbrink had his best outing with the club, combining a tireless display, with some fine passes for his wide players, while Scott High never wilted in the heat of the midfield battle.

Unfortunately, Dundalk were unable to find the opening for a winning goal, despite the efforts of Benson, who ran himself in the ground and should have possibly been replaced, Horgan who just needs a goal to ignite his season, Mountney, who was the out ball for much of the game, winning invaluable headers, and Gullan didn’t get the reward he deserved for more outstanding work in holding up the ball and fully occupying the two Shels central defenders.