'The players should be driving themselves on now!' - Former Derry captain Peter Hutton

The man who won league titles with both Derry City and Shelbourne believes that the players should not need team talks at this stage of the season, with the end goal now in sight.

Peter Hutton, who made 663 appearances for Derry City, was the last man to captain the club to the Championship 27 years ago. On April 19, 1997, Hutton scored in a 2-0 win over St. Patrick’s Athletic at the Brandywell on a night which ended with him lifting the title for only the second time in the club’s short League of Ireland history.

Hutton won the league just four years later, but wearing different colours, as he helped Shelbourne back to the top of Irish football.

Now both clubs are back at the top fighting for the title, with just three points separating them with six games to go. Shamrock Rovers are still in the mix also in what promise to be a nerve-wrecking end to the season for fans of all three clubs.

“Whoever can remain cool and keep concentrated and focused just to get the business done will do it,” Hutton said. “It seems as if no-one really wants to grasp their reins and take the initiative. It's a strange season. There’s nobody who has consistently stood out over the course of the season. Teams have flirted with a bit of consistency, and then when you think that they're on a run, they've blown it then or threw away easy points, so it's just been a very, very strange season, to say the least.

“Now, when you’re into the last five or six games, anybody who shows any type of consistency will win it.”

Derry City and Shelbourne have historically been huge rivals, with the clubs last on this position in 2006, when the Candystripes won both cup competitions, but lost out on a treble on goa difference to the Dublin side.

“We had some real battles with Shelbourne over the years, and some great games,” he acknowledged. “There were two really strong teams over the years, when Rovers weren't at themselves. When they had no home and they were going from ground to ground.

“But now Shels are back up there, and I feel as though Damien Duff has done incredible work in terms of galvanising the club and getting them into the position they're in now. I don't think they’re as easy on the eye as Derry would be; they are very resilient and dogged and they grind out results. But they've given themselves an opportunity now to go and win the league, and so I'm sure they're looking forward to these games coming up now too. Damien Duff will have them well prepared.”

Damien Duff is hoping to spoil Derry City’s hopes of a third league title.  (Photo: Ben McShane/Sportsfile)

What unique aspect of this title race is that the managers of the top two are relatively inexperienced, with neither in this position before in their managerial careers.

“Damien Duff has obviously played in the Premier League under serious managers, so I'm sure he's picked up a lot of things on his way,” Hutton continued. “Ruaidhri’s now in his third season, and he's obviously had spells just under good coaches as well, with Stephen (Kenny), and places like Coleraine and Dundalk.

“They've been around that management set-up for a number of years now so I wouldn't say they're rookies; in terms of winning the league, they obviously are. I'm not saying they're enjoying it, but I would say they'd rather have that than what Kevin Doherty and John Daly are going through.”

‘Enjoy it’

Hutton experienced the pressure and expectation of several title run-ins during his time as a player, and while the weight of 27 barren years weighs heavy on the current squad, the former captain and manager of the club believes the players should savour these moments.

“I think it's there to be enjoyed, because Derry for a number of years, have languished in that table, and not been involved,” he explained.

“It's a blessing, and it's there to be enjoyed. It's not every day, as we know ourselves, that you'd be up there challenging for titles, so, you grasp the initiative and run with it. At this stage now, Ruaidhri and Paul Hegarty really shouldn't have anything to say, or need to say anything.

“It should be the players driving each other, because every player will want to play in these last five or six games, be that in the Cup semi-final, or these remaining league games. First and foremost, every player wants to play, and be in that starting eleven. In terms of the training and the build-up to games, for me anyway, that's what I really enjoyed, those training sessions, because there was a real intensity to those training sessions, and everybody upped their game, because everybody wanted to play. So, I'm sure they wouldn't have to say much to the players now, in their remaining games.”

Derry and Shels are set to face each other at the Brandywell on the final day of the season, for what could well be a last-day title-decider. Hutton has been in that position before, losing the league on the final day three times; in 1995 at Athlone, in 2005 at Cork City and 2006 against Bohemians. He has never forgotten the pain of those losses.

Peter Hutton won the league with Shelbourne back in 2001.

“I've experienced both sides of it,” he acknowledged. “It's obviously not a nice feeling because you've worked your socks off all year, and to just come up short in the final game, there's nothing worse. It's very, very bittersweet, because you've done well all season, but you've really nothing to show for it, because nobody remembers who comes second.”

The memories of winning are more important however, and Hutton will forever appreciate that he was able to get his hands on the league title during his playing days, especially for this home town team.

Next Read: IN PICTURES: Derry City fans enjoy night of late drama at the Brandywell

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” he stated. “We had a really good year. At the start of the season I think people thought we’d be up there or thereabouts challenging, but we really dealt with it really well. We had a good mixture in the squad in terms of youth and experience and balance all over the park n terms of wide players and midfield. We had people complementing each other all over the park so there was a really good squad.

“You think that this is going to happen every year. But then, the following season, in 98, we were languishing near the bottom and mid-table, so, it can fall away very, very quickly if you're not careful. “It was a very, very special night that night we won it against St. Pat’s in the Brandywell. I'm sure for Ruaidhri and Paul, there'd be no better feeling if they won it on the night at home to Shels in the Brandywell. You talk to people, and for some there’s a feeling that it's written in the stars, but I'm sure Damien Duff will have something to say about that, and obviously Stephen Bradley too.”