The world of the league of Ireland has had plenty of ups and downs this season but yesterday probably brought us the biggest story of the season so far with the shock resignation of Damien Duff from Shelbourne. In terms of importance to the league overall, Droghedas expulsion from the the League is undoubtably more important but in terms of box-office Duff is the big flashy summer blockbuster to the Drogheda stories Oscar winner.
The more important story isnt always the one that makes the most headlines. It also means just this once the match previews portion of this column will instead just follow this one story although rest assured there will be some predictions for tonight in the end!
Just to make things clear- the job that Damien Duff did at Shelbourne was top drawer. I remember he detested the phrase early on there but he essentially awoke the sleeping giants of Irish football at the time and against the odds delivered them to the promised land of a league title nearly 20 years in the making.
This column for one did not anticipate it going as well as it did. Nor indeed did many other people. In a different mid-covid pandemic time, talking to League of Ireland football fans and indeed a player or two and the perception early one was one of indifference both to how long he would last and indeed whether some of those early signings he made would work out. Its hard to argue in the main with a lot of them they did.
His demenour on the touchline drew a lot of comparisons with his former mentor Jose Mourinho. The soundbites in the press-conferences an integral part of a League of Ireland fans week. In fairness to him there was an honesty to what he said, he wore his heart on his sleeve. The comparisons we should also have been looking at were perhaps of both Duff and Mourinhos time at Chelsea where we can see some similarites to what happened to Duff at Shelbourne.
To steal a catchphrase from a well known tv show, if you asked 100 people to name the most memorable title race in Premier League history then I would be fairly confident that Chelseas 04/05 and 05/06 would be as close to pointless answers as you would find. Chelsea with the twin threats of Robben and Duff on the flanks were as dominant a team over a two year time period as you could find.
In an era that had quite a few final day title dramas – Chelseas two titles of that era were methodical and highlighted the importance of a good start something that Duff clearly utilised well last season. Nineteen from twenty one points at the start of last season a key indicator of that. Chesea’s 2005-2006 title season saw the drop five points in total out of their first possible sixty six so the formula was clearly laid out for Duff.
It is after that that the similarities lie as a poor run of form allowed Man United to cut a Chelsea lead of sixteen down to just seven. Chelsea of course rallied and still took the title but for the first time under Mourinho struggled and it is interesting that coinciding with Duffs departure to Newcastle at the end of that season Chelsea did not regain the league again in Mourinhos first spell in charge. Should we have been looking at Shels drop in form towards the end of last season as a similar portant of what was to come?
Duff cut a frustrated figure over the past few months and you wonder was that due to the fact that the fast start never really materialised and for the first time in his years as a title contender the role of playing catch-up was all over the horizon. The comments he made on Friday night were a byproduct of that as he appeared to criticise his teams professionalism. In closing he will be missed from the LOI dugout and it will be fascinating to see where he goes from here. Life goes on though and here are the predictions for tonights games
Premier Division:
Waterford 2 Shelbourne 2
Sligo Rovers 1 Galway United 0
Cork City 1 Drogheda United 1
Bohemians 1 Shamrock Rovers 1
St Patricks Athletic 2 Derry City 0
First Division:
Bray Wanderers 2 UCD 0
Cobh Ramblers 3 Kerry FC 2
Finn Harps 1 Dundalk 4
Longford Town 2 Athlone Town 1
Treaty United 0 Wexford FC 0
There you have it normal service will resume on Friday but until then enjoy tonights games at the #greatestleagueintheworld.