'We'd be lost without them' - Damien Duff explains bringing fan onto pitch to give team talk

Shelbourne boss Damien Duff walks towards the fans.

DAMIEN DUFF EXPLAINED that his decision to bring a Shelbourne fan from the crowd and deliver a post-match team talk following the win over St Patrick’s Athletic was pre-planned after coming up with the idea while on a run with his dog earlier in the day.

The Shels boss plucked a supporter from the Riverside Stand after John Martin’s goal was enough to end a run of five games without a win and maintained their place at the top of the Premier Division.

But Duff revealed that it was not a spur of the moment choice.

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“I probably think too much. Out for a run this morning with Bella (his dog) and you picture winning, you picture losing. I picture everything. I just thought ‘here, we are lost without them’. It’s a big night, a Dublin derby, amazing amazing win so get him in,” he said.

“So I let him speak in the huddle, didn’t get a lot of sense out of him. Then Coyler (Mark Coyle) speaking and I didn’t get a lot of sense out of him either. That’s all it is. Togetherness. The heartbeat of the club; the players, the fans, everyone. I just wanted to do it.”

It was a vital win for Shelbourne and after three draws and two defeats in April Duff also admitted that he changed his usual pre-match preparation, opting against showing any footage of opponents St Pat’s and instead focusing on his own players.

“The meeting does be ready to go, it takes me two days. I’ve asked them before ‘do you want to see the meeting’ and they’re pretty sick of listening to me so they’ve said no. I didn’t even give them the option yesterday. Named the team and we trained.”

Reflecting on that tricky period without a win, Duff added: “It’s probably more learning for them. I couldn’t put my finger on why. It was three weeks effectively. A lot can happen in 21 days. Flip flop. Everyone is going to have highs and lows.

“It’s not going to be plain sailing for 36 games. Ours was 21 days. Inside that you can say, Derry here, a virus going through the squad. I said at the time it was the best point we’ve earned.

“Drogheda we’re losing with five minutes to go and get a point, draws add up as well. Two losses, Bohs we played really well with two sucker punches and then onto Galway, that was the real bug bear. If you have a wee or two off in this league, as I’ve been telling the guys, you’ll soon be caught up.

“A good couple weeks you’re up the table, a bad couple you’re down so you can’t take a moment off.”