Damien Duff: ‘If it was up to some agents in this country they’d have got Gav to sign for the Dog and Duck’

Shels now go into a four-week break from league action due to the FAI Cup and European schedule, their next league game against second-placed Derry City. Despite throwing away a 1-0 lead to draw 1-1 away to Drogheda United, a game where Shels finished with nine men, the Reds extended their lead at the top of the table to three points as Derry lost away to Sligo Rovers.

Shels, who gave debuts off the bench to Ali Coote, Sam Bone and Harry Wood, will now miss Paddy Barrett and Tyreke Wilson for that key league game against Derry due to suspension but their squad was also hit by the mid-season move of Molloy to Aberdeen.

The League of Ireland Premier Division as Aidan Fitzmaurice and Seán O’Connor look back on Thursday’s five matches

Molloy is now part of the Scottish club’s setup after a move from the Reds which was confirmed last month, as the Dons offer triggered a release clause which allowed him to leave for a fee reportedly in the region of €75,000. At the time Duff placed the focus on the player’s representatives, telling the Irish Independent “agents don’t always have the best interests of the player at heart. There’s clauses you can’t get around”.

Speaking after the draw with Drogheda United, Duff says he was powerless to prevent Molloy from leaving. “It’s unfortunate he’s gone but we haven’t mentioned his name since he left and it’s important people know Gav wanted to go, he didn’t want to hang around for Europe, as much as I was disappointed, slightly, I do admire that scorpion within, ‘I am going to play for Aberdeen and I want to be there for the first day of pre-season’,” he said.

“Firstly, we wish him all the best, I am intrigued to see how he goes. Secondly, release clauses, this and that, we were over a barrel and there was nothing we could do. My issues with agents is, this happened to be a good move but if it was up to some agents in this country they’d have got Gav to sign for the Dog and Duck.

“Gav does have his head screwed on, there were times over the last year where the Dog and Duck did want to sign him, probably his agent would have pushed him there just to say he got a player to England, it’s a good move for him.

“Us, will we miss him? He’s an absolutely top player but Kameron Ledwidge has grown into that role over the last few years and has been immense all season, been brilliant, and every attribute that Gavin Molloy has, Kameron has it as well. We move on very quickly here.

“Gav wasn’t on a long term deal which is never ideal, something we will be looking at and have tried to do steadily over the last couple of years, like Rovers did. Their success was built on good coaching and good players but they were all signed on long-term contracts so they couldn’t get these outs.

“Is it chats with people in the FAI or Mr McGuinness [PFAI general secretary Stephen McGuinness], I don’t know, all I can do is affect the people at Shelbourne, good bloody players here will be rewarded, hopefully on long-term deals because we do have some investment and money there. You can’t look at it as money thrown out the window as Gav, the likes of him, you will always get your money back.”

Shels had a tense end to the Drogheda game and they now face a testing schedule in Europe and the FAI Cup but Duff has told his squad to embrace it.

“I guess it was three/four or five minutes of madness that turned the game on its head. You keep 11 men on the pitch, I’d absolutely back us to see out the game, we felt comfortable without the ball.

“In the first-half we were probably comfortable with the ball, in the second-half we didn’t dominate as I’d have liked us to. At the same time you’d feel we were still in control when we didn’t have the ball. But obviously the sendings off changed the game dramatically,” he added.

“You can look at it many ways – what if? If you go through life with what ifs and maybes and buts… ah, it’s a point, I guess that you pull away from Derry and we haven’t lost the game. If you are not going to win it, don’t lose it. We certainly didn’t do that. How we saw out the game, I thought, was brilliant.

”There’s no time to feel nervous. The fans have sang since day one that Lily Allen song about enjoying themselves. We’re enjoying ourselves, the players are having the time of their lives, the staff are having a ball so the fans should enjoy it too. Don’t be nervous nor edgy. It’s a brilliant time for the club and long may it continue,” he said.