DAMIEN DUFF has long since established his credentials as a manager who is prepared to get his hands dirty.
And, yesterday, he whipped out the WD40 but it was not the wheels of Shelbourne’s title defence he was looking to oil.
By common consensus, the ex-Chelsea and Ireland star has helped to sprinkle a bit of stardust on a league which was already on the up.
His embracing of the League of Ireland in general and Shels in particular helped it reach wider acclaim.
It culminated in a record TV audience for their final-day victory away to Derry City which ensured they brought Shamrock Rovers’ four-year reign as champions to an end.
But he bristled at the suggestion that Shels would be looking to ‘defend’ or ‘retain’ their league title, their first since 2006, although the club’s honours board which hung behind him has yet to be updated.
Duff said: “Saying ‘defend the title’ feels to me like you are taking a backwards step and just trying to protect something.
“It’s not about defending or retaining the title, it’s about winning the title.
“Retain, defend, they are words I don’t like and we haven’t been using them.”
He did concede that he would be picking the brains of the club’s new CEO Tomás Quinn on the challenge of backing up success, who won seven Leinster football titles with Dublin, though only one All-Ireland.
But he dismissed the notion that Shels were favourites who were being chased down by pack.
He said: “I don’t think we are favourites. I wouldn’t put us as favourites, we weren’t favourites last year, I don’t see us as favourites this year.
“Rovers will always be favourites, Derry have a very experienced Northern Irish international football team, St Pat’s are near-on favourites as they won nine games in a row.
“We are all on zero points. Defend, retain, chasing…. we all start off on a level par, for me it’s forgotten about.
“It should give the guys confidence but as for chasing, it doesn’t make sense as we are all on zero points.”
But the terms being used by journalists was not the thing causing him most annoyance at an event to launch the club’s away jersey, sponsored by Chadwicks.
There were tradesmen busy at work in Tolka Park’s main stand making improvements for the new season.
Underneath, Duff looked like a simmering pot waiting to boil over as the door into the bar swung open and closed repeatedly with an annoying screech each time.
Asked about it, he said: “Yeah, I’m on edge a bit. It’s nothing you have done.
“I guess it’s hunger, enthusiasm and drive. Sometimes that can come across as being a bit cranky.”
It is nothing new that managers here have to do jobs that their counterparts in more prestigious leagues would not have to contemplate.
For their previous league success, Pat Fenlon found himself marking the pitch because the club was in such dire straits that there was nobody else to do it.
Thankfully, there are no issues with wages these days but it was still quite the sight to see the two-time English Premier League winner returning later on with an oil can.
If that was a running repair, there has been a bit more remodelling of his squad, with two players – Daniel Kelly from Derry City and Ellis Chapman from Sligo Rovers – brought in from other clubs in the League.
Also in are two from outside, Mipo Odubeko from Fleetwood Town and free agent Kerr McInroy, whom Duff knew from his time at Celtic.
TRANSFER MARKET
Duff explained: “It would have been poor for myself, the staff and the club if we didn’t add to the squad.
“When you become champions and you win something, it’s very easy to sit back and trust it’s not broken but that’s absolutely the time to strengthen, so we have brought in a freshness.
“It’s never nice to let players go but we have done, and I think we have brought in some serious quality.
“You are always looking at all units of the team, we haven’t strengthened all units, if you look at our squad but we have brought in some serious quality.”
But he admitted that, when it came to recruitment, it was not a buyer’s market.
He said: “When there is scarcity of players, the players in demand can command bigger wages. That’s life. That’s why it’s important and we’ve strived to tie lads down.
“As much as it’s hard work for me, I feel sorry for players in the League of Ireland having one-year deals. I think nearly all our lads are tied down long-term deals.
“It’s the only way you can build. Outside of that, it’s ‘who’s out there?’ We don’t throw mad money at anybody. We like to spend well and wisely.
“I think we’ve done that, very, very, well. We tapped out on a couple because it didn’t sit right with us. For instance, that’s where you maybe have to look elsewhere and we did, ie. Mipo.
“Sometimes it’s your circle of friends, I don’t really have a circle of friends, but maybe circle of players you worked with before and Kerr was one I was always fond of.
“To cut your answer short, everyone can see there’s a scarcity.”
Duff was reluctant to be drawn on the challenge posed by Champions League football.
He claimed that he would not let his players look beyond the Presidents Cup final against Drogheda United next Friday to their league opener against Derry City a week later, never mind their European game in the summer.
But he said: “It’s aim for the stars in every competition.”
