The Damien Duff factor can edge Shelbourne to FAI Cup glory

FAI Cup final: Derry City v Shelbourne, Aviva Stadium, 3pm (Live on RTÉ 2)

A blue riband event, between two clubs accelerating towards bright futures, on and off the pitch.

Both squads must cope with low blows. Derry City midfielder Sadou Diallo is suspended for a red card received at the end of the league campaign while Shelbourne winger Shane Farrell is injured, and presumed out.

Derry journey to Dublin as the superior outfit on paper and in reality, with 25 additional league points to finish runners-up behind Shamrock Rovers, scoring 13 more goals than Shels for good measure. But Damien Duff’s system, his man-management, his spiritual guidance, his appointment of Joey O’Brien and obsessively-edited videos (one for striker Seán Boyd was of Erling Haaland’s greatest hits) have all combined to awaken this giant club from lengthy hibernation.

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Want to know what Duff has done for Irish football; see the Garrincha-styled teenager that Brian Kerr treated like a butterfly, see the Chelsea wing-duet with Arjen Robben that Jose Mourinho built Chelsea’s first Premier League success upon, see him bowing to Japanese hosts after scoring against Saudi Arabia, and nowadays, see a 43-year-old gaffer on the cusp of what he considers a career-defining achievement.

“Obviously Damien has had a more colourful career than I have had so for him to say that then it shows how much it means to him,” said Derry City manager Ruaidhrí Higgins. “And I believe him as well, I think it’s complete honesty on his behalf. He’s really passionate about Irish football. If it’s the biggest of his [career] then it’s obviously the biggest of mine.”

Duff concurred: “It’s an absolutely massive occasion, I know I said after the Waterford game and I’m sure people were like, f**king hell, you’ve just won four games, anyone can do that. It’s not the fact we’ve won four games, it’s the whole journey, the whole process.

“I’d never planned on being a manager. I said at the start when I took over the gig I was scared, I said no because I didn’t back myself, but in the end I took it. That’s why it’s the pinnacle. Football is football, I played it whereas this is like, ooff, totally out of the comfort zone stuff. That’s why it’s, wow, it’s number one.”

And from day one Duff has spared nobody; not the FAI’s embarrassing facilities, not an opposing manager, nobody, as perceived sleights against his players, who he treats like sons, were robustly defended.

“I’ve a lot of time for Ruaidhrí, he’s done a great job, he’s a good guy,” said Duff. “I’ve fallen out with a lot [of people] this year but [touches wood] I haven’t fallen out with Ruaidhrí yet.”

Facilities aside, the futures of Derry City and Shelbourne look hugely promising. Still, the cynic must wonder, what have we here; two clubs with prudent money men or more hot air balloons floating up and away, without any real direction (with respect to Phileas Fogg)?

Only time will tell, but Derry City’s billionaire chairman Philip O’Doherty made the club’s intentions clear in September 2021: “Ruaidhrí's budget has been increased, will be increased again, and we are going to be challenging for the league next year.”

All this happened. Higgins, like Duff, is a former Stephen Kenny acolyte in the international set-up who broke free to enhance his career by overseeing a League of Ireland side. Derry’s medium term aim is two pronged; end Rovers dominance of the premier division and build an academy system in the northwest comparable to the Tallaght club.

“The first one or two conversations were: could I bring Patrick McEleney and Michael Duffy home?” said Higgins this week. “Patrick and Michael were obvious because they’re from Derry but we’re haven’t just gone and handpicked whoever we wanted. Contrary to reports, Philip isn’t a wealthy businessman for no reason. He doesn’t just say yes to everything, believe me.

“We do want to win trophies. We want to compete.”

Already competing, they should take trophy number one home on Sunday evening. Unless, unless, the stardust Duff has sprinkled over Tolka Park yields a first cup success in 22 years.

A boon before the Serbians settle into Drumcondra. Shelbourne’s master plan, scripted by Andrew Doyle and bolstered by equity investment from their American-arm Closebreak, is about to come to fruition as Southampton owners Sport Republic, funded by billionaire Dragan Šolak, are keen to bet on Duff’s fluid 3-4-2-1 system.

The end game is no great secret. There are Uefa millions to be plundered via the Europa Conference League and the great beyond – progress to the Champions League group stages, where Pat Fenlon’s Shels almost ventured in the 2004/05 season when Deportivo de La Coruña helped to create a Lansdowne night for the ages.

This proved a false dawn for Shels and Irish football, but new money is trickling into clubs intent on catching Rovers in a post-John Delaney era that might just lay the foundation stone for an actual soccer industry on the island.

Derry should prevail on Sunday, they should claim a sixth cup since 1989, one shy of Shels, because of Duffy and McEleney, and Brian Maher heroics in goal. But Duff’s Shelbourne have a system, an evolving comfort in possession, a surging belief that only needs one match winner, and Boyd can be that very soul. So long as the effects of Duff’s Haaland videos have seeped into the rangy striker’s mind...