"Defensive? I've been called worse" - Duff laughs off flak as Shels sit top

Damien Duff has brushed off being criticised as a defensive coach, stressing Shelbourne’s recipe for their surge to the top is a thing of beauty.

Friday’s 2-0 win against Bohemians – the club’s first since 2013 – following 1-0 victories over Sligo Rovers and Galway United.

They’d almost kept champions Shamrock Rovers scoreless in the game previous but that 2-1 triumph, another that ended a famine, was the catalyst for them sitting pretty at the summit.

The Premier Division is only five games into 36 but the structure of the Shels team, confining Bohs to one effort on target, is a culmination of the work conducted on the training pitch by Duff and his assistant, another ex-Ireland international in Joey O’Brien.

Duff’s migration into coaching shocked many but there was a surprise too that his tactics didn’t match that his the free-flowing style he mastered as a two-time Premier League winner and Ireland centurion.

He admits it’s more akin to the approach José Mourinho adopted in 2005 when guiding a Chelsea side containing Duff to their first title in 50 years.

“People can say it’s defensive but I call it organised and there’s a big difference,” asserted the 45-year-old, who had a less memorable spell at Newcastle United after Chelsea.

“I’ve been called a lot worse, in the Premier League anyway, especially at St James’s Park when I was a player.

“We can be as organised as we want and I’d like to think we are. You can set teams up all you want, your structure and how you press but it’s getting lads to buy in and do it for each other.

“The most pleasing thing is getting the likes of Will Jarvis and Liam Burt, unbelievably talented players in the league, working hard and getting their buy-in.

“There is a thing of