Duff to lead Shels into battle with the champions
By Daire Walsh
BALLYBODEN’S Damien Duff will be reunited with some familiar faces at Tolka Park tomorrow evening (kick-off 7.45pm) as defending champions Shamrock Rovers pay a visit to Shelbourne in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.
At the end of a glittering club career that saw him win two Premier League titles and two English League Cups, Duff made good on a previously-stated promise to line out in the League of Ireland.
He may have only featured on nine occasions for Shamrock Rovers, but he went on to be part of the club’s first-team coaching staff before subsequently taking over their Under 17 side.
He joined the Hoops’ senior set-up around the same time that Stephen Bradley was first appointed as boss and there should be a very interesting battle of wits between the two at the Drumcondra venue.
Although he has just two wins to his name thus far as Shelbourne boss, an additional three draws means Duff is keeping the north Dubliners away from the relegation zone during the early weeks of the 2022 campaign.
They have tested themselves against some notable sides already and their cross-city rivals Rovers will pose another interesting challenge.
Having shared the spoils with Dundalk and Sligo Rovers in consecutive games, the Hoops returned to winning ways courtesy of a 3-0 victory at the expense of Finn Harps in Ballybofey on Friday night.
This is a game that off-season recruit Andy Lyons won’t forget in a hurry as the Kildare native opened his account with a brace of fine finishes.
Graham Burke also found the net from the penalty spot as Rovers cruised to a comfortable triumph and moved up to second in the league table.
The fact Harps recently beat Shels by the same margin in Tolka suggests the Hoops will be red-hot favourites tomorrow, but the hosts might well have some tricks up their sleeves.
Aside from Duff and his assistant Joey O’Brien, the Reds have four ex-Rovers players within their ranks in the shape of Luke Byrne, Kyle O’Connor, Sean Boyd and Dan Carr, who will all be determined to get one over on their former club.