The league leaders came from two goals down at home to the in-form Saints but ended up with nothing after Al-Amin Kazeem’s 88th minute strike delivered another blow to Duff’s hopes of sealing the title deal.
While Duff acknowledged that Shels deserved criticism for the manner of their concessions in a Tolka Park thriller and had no complaints about an injury time red card for Matty Smith for lashing out at Aaron Bolger, he was outraged by an incident in the build-up to Kazeem’s goal where John Martin felt he was fouled but a free was awarded in the other direction.
Ref McGraith found himself in the spotlight again in his first game since the awarding of a controversial late penalty to Derry City against Shamrock Rovers in the Brandywell last Friday week.
“The three goals we’ve given away are ridiculous, you won’t win a game at any level,” said Duff, whose side remain four clear at the top of the table, “The third goal is soft, you can dissect it and there’s a lot in it. But I just have to say the lead up to it. It’s a mind boggling decision. John Martin is going down the line. I think it’s Joe (Redmond) from behind (it was actually Bolger), he rugby tackles John and the free kick is given the other way.
“They’re not excuses but six, seven seconds later they score. A crazy, crazy decision.”
Duff said he could find positives in his side’s performance, feeling there was an upturn in their energy levels from the worrying run that opened the door to the chasing pack.
Yet he accepted that Smith crossed the line with a petulant red in time added on that will rule him out of Sunday’s trip to Shamrock Rovers – it was a serious comeback for the Scot given that his superb strike had levelled the match. Martin was also lucky to escape a red for a poor tackle in a fraught conclusion, while Aidan O’Brien and Shane Griffin sustained injuries in a bruising affair.
“The edge, emotion, fire, I’m happy to see all of that back,” said Duff. “Two wonderful goals but it (the result) is a hard one to take.
“Have we gone over the line at the end with Matty’s red? Yeah, it’s a red. Tallaght is his ground, he is always brilliant up there so he’ll be a miss. But I can’t condone what he did. Initially I thought it was a body-check, they just ran into each other, but when you see it back and Aaron (Bolger) is on the ground it’s poor. That’s what I mean about emotion. He has gone over the edge
“John, I’ll have to see that back but I think it’s naughty as well, he’s lucky to escape more punishment. But, yeah, here, the difference tonight, Pat’s were stone cold killers, it sounds strange because we’ve scored two wonderful goals, but in the first half we played through them at will but we got to the final third (and it wasn’t good enough). We let loose and showed our quality to get back in the game.
“It’s hard to take and when you look at one (win) in nine, that fact is not great when you are trying to win a title. But we are top after 32 games, so I could counter you with that. If we just strip it back, are we in great form results-wise? Absolutely not. But I never give up, I’ll go to the death, it’s still in our hands, two home games, two away games. Would I have taken this at the start of the season? I’m sick of saying that but here I am again saying it.”
