Before this rollercoaster crusade to bring a league title back to Tolka Park took hold of Damien Duff, it was Shamrock Rovers who brought him back home.
In the summer of 2015, in the twilight of his playing career, the two-time Premier League winner left Australian side Melbourne City and signed for Rovers.
It would be the start of the Dubliner forging a strong relationship with the Hoops – one which would lead to him eventually managing the club’s under-15s while also joining Stephen Bradley’s backroom team.
The Rovers years marked the end of Duff’s playing days, but they also provided the platform for the beginning of his coaching journey. He is now only one victory away from becoming a league-winning manager for the first time.
Naturally, the only team capable of denying him that accomplishment are Rovers.
Derry’s title race is run, the Candystripes have been unable to stay the distance in the most madcap final stretch to any League of Ireland season. And while Derry could drag Shelbourne off the summit of the table on Friday night, they can no longer win the title – it will either be Shels or Rovers, Duff or Bradley.
Duff was involved with Rovers from July 2015 until he departed for a coaching role with Celtic in January 2019.
At the age of 36, he signed an 18-month contract with Rovers in the summer of 2015.
“I’ve always said that I wanted to come back and play in Ireland. Not only do I get the chance to do that, but I get to do it at the biggest club in the country. I am as excited about this move as I have been about any in my career,” said Duff at the time.
But it proved to be a challenging period for the former Blackburn, Chelsea, Newcastle and Fulham wizard. Beset by persistent injury, Duff featured in only nine league games for Rovers.
He made his debut as a late sub in a 3-0 win over Cork City in August 2015 and his last appearance was in October, when he came off the pitch in the closing stages of a 5-3 victory over Drogheda United.
With injury curtailing his involvement, Duff announced his retirement that December.
“After much deliberation, I have today decided to bring my professional football career to an end,” he stated.
“My heart wants me to continue playing but my body has finally won the battle and told me to stop. I’ve lived every young boy’s dream and I know I am a very lucky man.
“While I have finished playing, I am progressing with my coaching badges and will stay involved in the game for many years to come.”
Rovers moved to make sure that involvement was with them. Shortly after Bradley had replaced Pat Fenlon at the helm the following year, Duff joined the new management team, coaching alongside Stephen McPhail and Glenn Cronin.
And after also working with the academy players, in February 2017 Duff was officially appointed manager of the club’s first ever League of Ireland under-15 side.
It was a role he sought and subsequently fully embraced, though his introduction of 6am training sessions wasn’t universally welcomed.
“I don’t know whether you’d call them cavemen here in Ireland but they’re giving you a bit of stick because you’re getting them out of bed,” he said when speaking about the hoopla around those sessions. Even at that stage Duff’s drive to find an edge and improve players was evident, irrespective of the fallout.
Despite what some might have seen as a somewhat militaristic approach of dawn training, the overall experience would prove a mutually beneficial testbed for all involved – Duff, the club and the young players.
In April 2018, they beat Longford Town 9-0.
The Shamrock Rovers team that day included Sinclair Armstrong (now with Bristol City), Kian Moore (UCD), Adam Wells (UCD), Kyle O’Connor (Longford Town), Oisín Hand (Longford Town) and Conan Noonan (Shamrock Rovers). Current Shels midfielder Evan Caffrey was also on that Rovers side.
Speaking recently, Armstrong recalled his experience of playing under Duff.
“I felt this guy was psycho, bringing in 15-year-old kids at six o’clock in the morning, I was thinking ‘What the hell am I doing?’ he smiled.
“I enjoyed my time under Damien Duff, I learned a lot from him, 100 per cent.
“You get to a certain age, maybe 14 or 15, where you’re a little bit arrogant and I said to myself, ‘you know, I do probably know quite a lot about football,’ until I met Damien Duff. When I played with him at Shamrock Rovers under-15s, then I just said ‘I actually know nothing about football.’”
Duff remained with Rovers until January 2019 when a chance to join Celtic as assistant reserve team manager proved too attractive to turn down. He was soon promoted to first-team coach under Neil Lennon but returned to Ireland in the summer of 2020 for family reasons.
He took on a role as part of Stephen Kenny’s Ireland set-up and that June he was also appointed Shelbourne under-17 manager, a position that would ultimately pave a way to the big gig at Tolka Park.
Despite all Duff has achieved in the game, one of Ireland’s most celebrated players says securing a league title as Shels manager would eclipse anything he has done previously in football.
“It’d be the pinnacle. I’ve some nice memories along the way, winning trophies, playing some good stuff, 100 caps for Ireland,” he said. “But it’d be the absolute pinnacle.”
If Duff’s Shamrock Rovers years in Tallaght were the laying of foundation blocks, then the Shelbourne years have been about building something special at Tolka Park.
All that remains to be decided now is which club completes the job on Friday night.
