Charlie from the Stands: 'It would make a great book!'

When the dust settles on this League of Ireland season, there will be a real mix of emotion and opinions around the country about who deserved what, who threw it away and how did clubs get it right or wrong. But one thing is for sure – Shelbourne were deserved Champions at the end of it all.

Ranked as a mid-table team at the start of the season, I honestly don’t think people appreciate what Shelbourne have achieved and how they went about it.

Watching them maraud to winning six out of their first seven matches seems like a lifetime ago, and I will hold my hands up and say that I didn’t believe they could sustain that sort of form as the campaign went on. And they didn’t, encountering many ups and downs as it progressed, but ultimately and critically, they only lost seven games all season, a key statistic in this story of success.

The story of this season will culminate with many tales around Damien Duff – and rightfully so – but the other key protagonists in this tale were obviously the players, and the plot that they faced on Friday night.

Everyone was aware of the permutations around the gameweek – Shelbourne had to win at the Brandywell. As I navigated multiple screens with eyes on Shamrock Rovers, I have to admit that I thought it would be much more comfortable for Stephen Bradley’s side, forgetting that Padraig Amond was gunning for the Top Goalscorer award on his return to the League. He was like a man possessed, scoring one, hitting the crossbar and riffling a volley just over. Ultimately, Shamrock Rovers came away with a win and did their job, piling the pressure on Duff and Shelbourne.

Over 22 games, Shelbourne have beaten Derry City once. Add to this the fact that Derry have won nine games at home this season, scoring 33 goals in the process, you could suggest that the Brandywell was probably the last place in the country that Shels wanted to visit.

Coming to Derry on a normal night is a tough ask, never mind adding in the pressures involved with trying to claim your first league title in 18 years. Imagining up a gameplan, it would have had to revolve around not conceding and staying in the game – a Mourinho special one would say.

With the experienced Paddy Barrett and Sean Gannon at the fore, Shels were being marshalled by two winners. Barrett not being named in the PFAI Player of the year shortlist was baffling, considering his consistency and level of performance he has put in all season. He lost Gavin Molloy – his right-hand man – halfway through the season, and he was instrumental in helping improve and leading the likes of Kameron Ledwidge to their first title.

The league this year was dominated by good defending and well managed/organised teams, such as Shelbourne, and the old saying of ‘strikers win you games, defenders win you leagues’, could not be more true this year, regardless how many armchair pundits disparage the standard of the league this year.

The Shelbourne defence was excellent on Friday night, particularly Tyreke Wilson at left back and Barrett. Don’t get me wrong - JJ Luney and Mark Coyle protected their rearguard well, but defensively Shelbourne didn't afford Derry much.

The next stat sums up how Shelbourne wanted the game to go, and it played out exactly that way. Shelbourne have scored 11 goals after 85 minutes this season, an incredible tally. The old saying is that you can score too early - Shelbourne navigated this well.

I talked about the optimism surrounding Damien Duff on Friday night, and from listening to him speak and the journey from that FAI Cup Final against Derry City in the Aviva in 2022, Duff seems to have more dispositional optimism than the usual human being, meaning that he seems to have a natural tendency to expect good things to happen, and to see challenges as temporary or manageable setbacks.

Think back to the departures of Will Jarvis or Gavin Molloy or even the ill-discipline of Shane Farrell. His focus and ability to communicate what he expects to achieve is refreshing. In looking at the squad that Damien Duff has assembled, it is evident that he puts massive weight on the ‘need’ of the player. Let me explain.

I am a huge believer in ‘need’ when asking anyone to do anything. If you are reading this and thinking what does he mean, it often comes down to the purpose, motivation, or benefit that an action provides.

So, if a football club or manager asks a player to play for them, there has to be a strong need from the player - a need for them to get out of bed, train hard, improve everyday and be focused on the overall team goal. The need cannot be heavily leveraged on the clubs, and for the club to need the player to play well.

For me, the greatest need is for a player to prove someone else wrong, be it a manager or a player or a club that didn’t believe in that player. You could call this an emotional or psychological need. Sometimes actions are driven by internal motivations or desires, like the need for connection, self-expression, or personal fulfillment/growth.

If you look through the Shelbourne team, you see a vast amount emotional/psychological need being nurtured, and growth in every single player.

Look at the captain, Mark Coyle, a player who was driven by rejection when his career went from leaving Finn Harps U19 to rebuild at Cockhill Celtic, which earned him a return to Finn Harps, and then a move to Shelbourne.

Paddy Barrett had had nine clubs in ten years before signing for Shelbourne in 2023. Sean Gannon now has 11 league titles, but was deemed surplus to requirements by Shamrock Rovers last year.

These players and the majority of the Shelbourne squad have all had emotional rejection and psychological setbacks in their careers which have acted as a driver to grow and get better, and to achieve the end goal which was Damien Duff’s vision of winning the league.

Indeed, Duff’s own journey is a notable one. Everyone remembers Duff switching wings with Ajen Robben and running amuck in the Premier League, while making over 100 appearances for Ireland.

Having joined Chelsea for £17m (in those days, a huge fee), it is obvious that his own life would have changed drastically, if not just for the finances alone.

PICTURES: Derry City fans out in force for Derry v. Shelbourne game

And yet, we have watched it happen so many times that young men in many sports get huge sums of money which they cannot handle or receive poor or no advice on, and suddenly, the wheels come off, gambling, drink, drugs and general lifestyle changes more often than not result in negative effects as people and profesisonals.

So how does a boy born in Ballyboden, Dublin, go through all of the above and come out with the work ethic, passion and drive to help people achieve something that otherwise looked impossible?

That for me is the real story here - how Damien Duff has gone through such huge highs, and still feels the need to give back to the game and Shelbourne FC.

It would make for a great book.

Different animal

For any Derry City fans thinking that this weekend’s FAI Cup Final will be similar to the 2022 encounter with Shelbourne, please wake up.

Kevin Doherty’s Drogheda are a different animal, and since the summer transfer window, they have gotten stronger and stronger.

Don’t get me wrong - I understand why Derry are favourites, but the ‘need’ of the Drogheda players might outweigh the ‘need’ of the Derry players, which could cause problems for Ruaidhri Higgins on Sunday.

One thing you can be absolutely sure of is that the Derry City faithful, no matter what has gone before, will show up on big nights and Sunday will be no different.

With a supposed 35,000 tickets already sold, of which Derry City have sold the majority, it is all lining up to be a memorable night on Lansdowne Road, so let's get behind the Candystripes, and roar them to victory at the Aviva on Sunday.

I’ll try to contain myself this time…