‘Let’s f*****g go!’ – Damien Duff pulls Shelbourne fan out of the crowd to give passionate team talk

In the aftermath of the leaders’ 1-0 win over St Patrick’s Athletic, Duff and his side walked over to the vocal Riverside stand to celebrate their Dublin derby victory with the jubilant home support.

Shels boss Duff then helped supporter Ciaran Harmon out of the crowd, onto the Tolka Park pitch and brought him into the team huddle, as Harmon got the chance to say a few words to his team who were circled around arm in arm after securing a third successive victory over St Pat's.

With the clip attracting thousands of views since Friday night, Duff opened up on his decision to bring Harmon into the team talk.

Asked if it was a spur of the moment decision, 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.”

John Martin’s first-half goal proved the difference as Shels ended their five-match winless run to remain top of the Premier Division. Despite the narrow scoreline, it was a deserved three points for Duff’s side, as the Shels boss revealed their only focus coming into the derby was on themselves, not the visitors from Inchicore.

“It’s the first time we’ve done it in a long while, I was pretty firm in my belief that it was all about us,” said Duff, as his side picked up a first win since March 29.

“Every Thursday we’d show opposition and talk all about them, I didn't mention them (St Pat’s) once last Thursday and the players were shown no footage. It was all about us.

“It’s not groundhog day with us. I think we have maybe something you can't learn on a coaching licence, it’s just smelling a room maybe, and what players need. I think you always need to freshen things up.

“We didn't mention them, we just made it all about us. I'm not saying that won us the game. If we lose the game you’d be cursing that you didn't show them anything. We always try to keep things fresh.”

Having put their winless run to an end, Duff added: “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.”

March Player of the Month Will Jarvis shone again in the home win, with Duff labelling the 21-year-old winger as a “game changer”.

“I think he's a superstar in this league,” said Duff, with Jarvis, on loan from Championship side Hull City, hitting five goals and an assist so far this term, having also spent the second half of last season on loan at Tolka.

“That's why I was so desperate to get him back, but he's still young. He's only really started growing up by leaving the comforts of home at Hull. Will has been absolutely amazing for this football club. They are all spoken to differently, what do they need, for Will it's probably more encouragement. The more I get on him he probably folds more but he's still an absolute threat. He's a game changer in this league.”