Duff feels his players can hold their head high after their performance in the scoreless draw with FC Zurich in Tolka Park last night that ended their European campaign, with a three goal defeat in Switzerland meaning they were left with too big of a mountain to climb against superior opposition.
But his immediate message in the dressing room was warning his group that he now expects all energies to be channelled towards the visit of Derry in a crunch encounter. Shels are three clear at the top of the table with a game in hand.
“I spoke openly about what Monday means to me and what Monday should mean to them,” said Duff.
“If you see any of my players out shopping or golfing, even having a coffee, I’ll be disgusted. Monday is all about recovery, recovery, recovery because, like I said, we are built on energy and edge and the minute we don’t have that we’re a bang average team.
“So first and foremost, it’s just recover. It’s what top pros do, top pros don’t complain about playing three games in a week.
“They don’t need to leave their house, their bedroom, they don’t need to speak to people, their wives, anything. Just rest, eat well, sleep well, drink lots of water and let’s bounce in.
“What we’ve done in the last two and a half years is all built on energy, if that isn’t there on Monday night, it won’t be good.”
Duff admitted he had mixed feelings around praise for his side’s performance against Zurich, given that ultimately represented the end of their Europa Conference League campaign.
But he said the quality of the opposition and the fact that his team were embarking on their first European adventure together should put the overall performance into perspective.
“I hate that gallant effort thing, I’ve heard it enough over the years in Irish football, ‘ah we were great and nearly did this and that’ – I’m not celebrating a draw or anything like that but I think it’s a celebration for the club and how far it’s come, absolutely,” he continued.
“I thought the lads were brilliant tonight and on another night you’d nick a goal, and if you score early, you give them a proper fright. Here, we were up against a bloody good team that will be thereabouts going to win the Swiss league. I couldn’t be any prouder
“I think last week, it was nothing to do with application. Yeah there’s older boys in the team but the group, the team is young, in its infancy and still growing and maybe last week there was a sense of ‘do we belong here?’ – the performance was full of doubt and apprehension. You can’t play top teams with doubt and apprehension. They didn’t do that tonight, they knew and showed they belonged on the same pitch and you’d have to say a really positive result and performance going into Monday.”
