Stuart Byrne column: Damien Duff didn't throw Shane Farrell under the bus - it was for the good of the player

I don’t believe Damien Duff threw Shane Farrell under the bus. Not at all.

Farrell was sent off on two yellows just 12 minutes after coming on at Tolka Park on Monday, but Shels held out for a 0-0 against Shamrock Rovers.

Duff was fuming and let rip on live TV, and later with newspaper journalists, about how Farrell had to raise his standards on and off the pitch.

I’m sure Farrell wasn’t happy, but I’d no issue with it. Then again, as a player, I wouldn’t have put myself in that position.

I was that focused on conducting myself the right way as a pro, I’d never have been on the receiving end of such a rant.

When it comes to giving constructive criticism, there's two types of manager out there.

You have the ones who do it to suit their own narcissistic ideology, to make themselves feel better.

They don’t care if they unsettle the player, once they feel good. I’ve seen it before and it’s malicious and the wrong way to go about it.

Then you’ve the manager who genuinely cares about the player and despite spending all their time trying to develop them, it's just not working.

Since landing the job, Duff has gone out of his way to big up Shane Farrell - a fans’ favourite. He put his arm around him time and again and has praised him in the media.

Farrell has benefitted from that.

But Shels have reached a point where Duff needs to shift the mindset from being a team happy to win on a Friday to believing they can win a league.

Damien Duff's Shels side are top of the league.

When they lost to Galway, Duff said something that struck a chord. He implied that some of his players were smelling themselves.

Once you identify that in a dressing room, you rectify it. And the result against Rovers was a sign that those players gave themselves a slap and said ‘cop on’.

Shels can win the league. I was at the Brandywell on Friday, and Derry and Rovers were streets apart. But they were each other’s equal at Tolka on Monday.

The Shels players need to realise they are title contenders, but it’s hard getting lads to accept that when they’re not conditioned to thinking that way.

But they must start thinking about what they want from their career.

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I was lucky to win trophies, but I had no life for seven years. I couldn’t do a thing because I was afraid I’d mess it all up.

Would I do it all again? In a heartbeat. I’m working a 9-5 job these days, and I’m looking at the world going around. It’s grand.

But I’d give my right arm for it all again. These are the greatest days of your life, but it’s bloody exhausting.

And yet the longer you’re in that position, the less tiring it becomes. And then it becomes an addiction and when it’s an addiction, you’re in a good place.

Players with title winning ambitions have to think like machines and that’s why Duff’s roasting of Farrell is well intentioned.

When I played, I’d see lads desperate to finish training so they could go gambling, go to Nandos or out shopping for their holidays in the mid-season break.

It drove me ballistic.

This life is not for everyone. It can be mentally draining, but when you see the rewards on offer, it's worth it.

THE LONG AND SHORTS OF IT

Baggy is back!

Skinny jeans have finally gone out of fashion, and not before time.

I was partial to a pair of slim jeans, but never skinny. They’re for GAA players and Dublin southsiders.

At Tolka on Monday for Shels-Rovers, I was alarmed - yes, alarmed! - by the number of players wearing skinny shorts, and jerseys that looked like they were painted on.

They weren’t far off cycling shorts, they were that tight. It was an uncomfortable watch.

Gone are the days when you’d wear a jersey that was four times too big, and if it rained you’d be carrying an extra two kilos.

You need a wave in the jersey when running at full tilt, with the shorts flickering like a flag to depict movement.

As a rule of thumb, if the lining of your jocks is showing through your shorts, have a serious word with yourself.

A KING SIZED SHOCK TO ALL

The fact Noel King was shocked to get the Dundalk job tells you everything you need to know about an utterly bizarre appointment.

I presume Kinger was brought in to ruffle a few feathers and get the team playing a certain way.

Make Dundalk hard to beat, get back to basics and scrap their way up the table.

The thought of Dundalk getting relegated is frightening, but it’s very real and that’s what makes this appointment all the more puzzling.

Dundalk manager Noel King
(Image: ©INPHO/Ciaran Culligan)

Will he get them out of trouble? I’d have my doubts as he’s been out of management in the men’s game for over 20 years.

King was a top coach in his day and he knows his way around a training ground, but the fact it was such a shock to him, that worries me.

These players need to be inspired and shown a different path. They need a reset on their whole thought process.

Brian Ainscough, the Dundalk owner, felt he had to bring someone in that would shock the system.

So whatever happens, this is on him, not Noel King.

ROVERS FANS A CREDIT

Shamrock Rovers fans were a credit at the Brandywell on Friday as the missiles rained down from outside the ground.

The area designated as the temporary away end should never have got the go-ahead as it’s just inviting trouble.

It was a big mistake by Derry City as they left the Rovers fans completely exposed to anything coming over the wall.

I was there and when the travelling fans were brought out to the centre circle for their own safety, they behaved impeccably and waited on the authorities to deal with it.

As for the little kid running down the pitch with the flare ….where do you even start with that?

Our new pyro culture alone is attracting fans of a certain age to matches, but we’re at a stage where it’s generating so much post-match talk and news agendas.

It’s a difficult one to deal with and it aint going away.

Shelbourne have introduced a zero tolerance approach by dishing out lifetime bans and I think others will follow suit.

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