Damien Duff pulled a fan from the crowd to give Shelbourne’s post-match team talk following their 1-0 win against St Patrick’s Athletic. The clip has already had over 60,000 views on X.com (formerly Twitter).
Shelbourne's victory on Friday night puts Duff’s side three points clear at the top of the Irish Premiership Division table.
This is incredible.
After Shelbourne had just beaten local rivals St Patrick’s in the Dublin Derby, manager Damien Duff pulled a fan out of the stands to give the post match team talk.
Class that! 👏❤️pic.twitter.com/Tsu8Wp0FKJ
— Football Away Days (@FBAwayDays) April 27, 2024
Duff explains bringing fan from the crowd into team huddle
After Shelbourne secured the three points at Tolka Park, Duff and his players went over to the Riverstand stand to celebrate with their supporters. The game against St Patrick’s Athletic is also significant for Shelbourne fans as it is a Dublin derby.
Duff then picked out a Shelbourne fan from the crowd named Ciaran Harmon and took him onto the pitch. Harmon joined the team huddle and was given the chance to speak to the players and staff following an important win. The Shels fan then proceeded to shout “Let’s f****** go!”, which was met by a loud roar by the players in the huddle.
The former Chelsea and Newcastle United winger was asked about the decision to bring the fan onto the pitch. Duff said: ““No, I'm always thinking, I probably think too much. I was out for a run with Bella (his dog) on Friday morning and you picture winning, you picture losing, I picture everything.
“And I just thought ‘here, we are lost without them'. It's a big night, it’s a Dublin derby, an amazing, amazing win.
“I got one of the fans in. Was he the head of the Briogaid Dearg (fan group)? So I let him speak in the huddle, didn't get a lot of sense out of him. Then Coyler (Mark Coyle) was speaking and I didn't get a lot of sense out of him either! That's all it is. It’s togetherness. The heartbeat of the club; the players, the fans, everyone. So I just wanted to do it.”
Shelbourne pick up their first win since March 29
Before the match against St Patrick’s Athletic, Shelbourne were winless in five, and their lead at the top of the league was shrinking. However, they were able to secure a clean sheet and three points against their bitter rivals, thanks to a 33rd minute strike from John Martin.
Asked about ending the bad run of form, Duff said: “A lot can happen in 21 days. It’s going to flip flop. Everyone is going to have highs and lows. It's not going to be plain sailing for 36 games.
“(Against) Derry, a virus going through (our squad), I said at the time it was the best point we've earned. Drogheda, we're losing with five minutes to go and get a point, draws add up as well.
“Then the two losses, Bohs we actually played really well with two sucker punches and then onto Galway, that was the real bugbear. If you have a week or two off in this league, as I've been telling the guys, you'll soon get caught up on. A good couple weeks you're up the table, a bad couple and you're down so you can't take a moment off.”