DAMIEN DUFF admitted he would have been EMBARRASSED if his Shelbourne side had stolen a point against Derry City on Friday night.
Despite him bellowing touchline instructions, his players just never woke up.
Michael Duffy’s 54th-minute wonderstrike gave Derry a fully deserved 1-0 win.
The Candystripes subsequently leapfrogged Shels into fourth place as the champions slipped 15 points off runaway leaders Shamrock Rovers.
Boss Duff said: “A bad night, a sobering night.
“We didn’t deserve anything from it. Huffed, puffed . . .
“Yes, we had some moments in the first half, the second half, but I’d be embarrassed walking home with a point.
“Not that they created a lot. They definitely play with a bit of quality. We certainly didn’t.
“The biggest thing to take away was (a lack of) quality, quality, quality, absolutely zero energy, flatness.
“I don’t accept that that’s our third game in a week. Never have, never will until the day I die. If you are an amazing pro you bounce into the night.
“Even if you are a bit tired, a bit flat, drag yourself along, give yourself a talking-to.
“Here, I don’t like being the one shouting and screaming on the sideline . . . ‘Duffer’s at it again!’ That’s the energy that I have.
“I prepared for Friday’s game like I was a professional footballer. My wife probably cursed me at times. Three-hour siesta, ate really well, focused my mind.
“There was a severe lack of energy, real flatness, severe lack of quality and you are going to get nowhere.”
The Ireland hero sensed his side were off in last Thursday’s training session and claimed he and assistant Joey O’Brien ‘smelt’ a performance like that coming.
Duff said: “Training was awful. I’ve been around football a long, long time and you can have training amazing on a Thursday and be really poor on a Friday. You can have a poor training session on a Thursday and be brilliant on a Friday.
“So it was off the back of two days of not being on the pitch. Played Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday back in Thursday.
“But that’s where you have to be an amazing pro, an elite pro, a pro that belongs in the Champions League which are strange words for me to say at the minute.
“Just really having a sharp mind and paying real respect to your training and the detail you were going to be getting.
“Did I smell it? Of course! It was awful. It all comes from within, your energy, motivation, how good a professional you are.
“I guess I’m the front of shop then, I’m the manager and it’s my energy and that’s why some days this year I crawl in.
“It’s my energy that has driven the players for four years. I’ve offered them the dressing room for them to lead this show, this steam train. They’ve never really done it.
“Again, it’s me shouting and screaming. Joe shouting and screaming. We had a real energy because we were highly motivated men, prepared well and I didn’t feel that spark, that energy off the players.
“You’re all probably saying, ‘Here he goes again’.
“I’m trying to drag the team, trying to wake them up, but they never woke up.”
UNKNOWN ENTITY
Shels now travel to Waterford at the RSC tomorrow with Duff saying he does not know what response to expect.
The Dubliner conceded: “I don’t know. For three years, we’ve been an incredibly motivated team.
“If you had a bad night, it was a given that you get a reaction. You know us.
“As I told the lads upstairs, I don’t know. Monday there will be a team, there will be changes.
“You never know with us anymore, which is damning. It’s damning on me because I’m the manager.
“So what comes on Monday, who knows? Absolutely, who knows?”
