Damien Duff hails Shels star after his star striker suffers busted nose in battle of Gibraltar
History buff Duff warned his players to be ready for a battle and they responded by winning war on the Rock.
Damien Duff hailed his Shelbourne heroes after they won a ‘war’ as well as a European tie in Gibraltar tonight.
A 90th minute melee marred the end of Shels’ impressive 3-2 aggregate win over St Joseph's- sparked by an elbow to the face of Shels striker, Sean Boyd, who subsequently required stitches to repair a deep cut to his nose.
Bizarrely the perpetrator escaped punishment whereas Shelbourne’s Sean Gannon picked up a red card after the game.
READ MORE: Sam Bone is Shelbourne's rock of Gibraltar as they win to set up second round date with FC Zurich
A perplexed Duff said: “Listen you can speak about game plans and you can big up the staff or whatever but it’s all about the players, they were brilliant, they found a way, they had to dig in at the end.
“As I always say to the players, it’s us against the rest of Ireland, maybe the world. I think it was true tonight because that decision on the side of the pitch was mind-boggling.
“We’ve seen back the footage. Sean Boyd is in there getting stitches in his nose. They’ve finished the game with 11 men, we’ve finished with 10 and it showed the spirit of the guys to see it out.
“It’s the dark arts of European football, something we need to learn better, taking a contact but we’re still trying to stay on our feet and we might end up losing the ball. Sometimes nice guys finish second but I think we really dug in and at the end of the game maybe we had to bring in some dark arts.
“It’s us against the world as I’ve always said and it was very apt tonight.”
Duff educated himself - and then the Shelbourne players - about Gibraltar’s bloody history of conflict in advance of the match, explaining how the British Overseas Territory has been involved in 14 wars.
“I said tonight could be the 15th (war) and so it proved.
“I spoke to the guys before the game and I said I don’t think I have ever seen a pretty game of football here because of the heat, the astro, the dryness of the pitch.
“We always try and paint a reasonably good picture for them and let them know what to expect and I told them it could be a war, it could be a battle at times and it ended up that.
“We came out on top.”
After winning the war, the prize now is a trip to neutral Switzerland, where they will play FC Zurich over the course of the next two weeks, with a FAI Cup tie against Bray sandwiched in between.
Duff said: “It’s great to get through, because this was a really difficult tie, and next week against Zurich pits us against a big, big team in European football but the most important thing now for Shelbourne Football Club is the FAI Cup on Sunday.
“This was a really good victory because while people see Gibraltar away and think it will be easy, I have never seen an easy game here. It is an absolutely incredible night for the club, the players, the fans. It reminded me of an away game with the Irish team many years ago. It is a special night for the players and the fans and I am delighted for them.”
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