Damien Duff kept the José Mourinho card up his sleeve until the last possible moment.
Standing on the Brandywell pitch in Derry an hour after Harry Wood’s late goal secured the League of Ireland title for Shelbourne, Duff revealed that three inspirational speeches were delivered to his players in the past fortnight.
“I tell you guys a lot of stuff that I do with the guys but you don’t know the half of it,” said Duff.
“We were laughed at for showing Only Fools and Horses but, here, I know how to run a dressing room and take the sting out of things.
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“Hats off, the players delivered on the pitch, the staff delivered and José Mourinho helped us as well.”
Duff tapped into three external voices to motivate the Shelbourne squad ahead of three victories over Waterford, Drogheda United and finally Derry, to clinch the club’s first Premier Division title for 18 years.
“Last week Colin Hawkins came in and gave a speech,” said Duff, “and the week before that Sir Ian McGeechan, the former manager of the [British and Irish] Lions [sent a video].
“The players are probably tired of listening to me over the season so I know when to tap into other people.
“You could say they gave us three assists.”
McGeechan and Hawkins, the former League of Ireland defender, clearly struck a chord, but Duff’s former manager, who guided Chelsea to two Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, is a name he has rarely uttered since being appointed Shels manager in November 2021.
“Joey [O’Brien, Shelbourne assistant manager] turned to me this week and asked ‘Gaffer, what will we do?’
“I said: ‘Oooff, I am running out of ideas here, what about José?’
“Why? Because we try to build a siege mentality, against the world, like he did. It would be mad not to tap into him.
“Today in the team meeting there was a private message from Jose, speaking about what it takes to win a title as a team, as an individual, and it blew the guys away.
“It was a video, shown in the Everglades [Hotel] a few hours before the game.
“People think I am mad, but I am an incredibly deep thinker,” Duff continued. “I don’t always get it right but the last three weeks, myself and the staff like to think we got it right. We’ve been so calm. We tapped into other people because I don’t think I am any type of expert. I am far from it.”
During the trophy celebrations in the changing room, Duff tried calling the current Fenerbahçe manager.
“I said to the lads if he doesn’t pick up I’ll put a monkey on the drinking tab tomorrow. Lo and behold he didn’t pick up so I owe €500 tomorrow.
“I died on the pitch for José … everyone hated Chelsea, everyone hates us, it just tied in nicely, it felt right.”
