Jose Mourinho message inspired Shelbourne to title win, but cost Damien Duff €500 player bar tab

Damien Duff has revealed that his former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho sent a motivational message to his Shelbourne squad ahead of their title-clinching win over Derry City on Friday night.

Duff surprised his players by showing them the video from the Fenerbache boss during their pre-match meeting at the Everglades Hotel, just outside Derry.

And it worked a treat, as Shels pushed right to the end to secure the points they needed to see off Shamrock Rovers’ late push to overtake them.

READ MORE: ‘Without him we don’t win the league’ - Shelbourne star hails manager Damien Duff

READ MORE: Shelbourne win League title in dramatic circumstances after late winner

Duff came up with the idea of getting his old Stamford Bridge chief to deliver a message after similar pep talks from former Lions head coach Ian McGeechen and ex-Shels defender Colin Hawkins delivered results against Waterford and Drogheda United.

Duff explained: “We have an Instagram page, there must be 150 posts on it now. I started last season and it’s got tactical training, shape, formations, everything, and just over time I might put motivational stuff, I might throw a joke in there or whatever, but it’s just the players’ page.

“There is a lot of learning in it. So any new player that comes in, they get a login to the page and there is gold on it, golden comedy, but golden learning as well.

“Three weeks ago, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we posted Ian McGeechan, powerful, powerful speeches.

“I got a private message off Neil Doyle from Ian McGeechan, so we just followed up on the day of the match, Ian McGeechan, powerful message, and we beat Waterford.

“Onto the next week, okay, Joe says, ‘Gaffer, what do you want to do?’. ‘I don’t know’.

“I met Colin Hawkins in the carpark, I found him utterly inspirational, his story, his wife’s story, what they've been through (their battles with cancer). He lifted me that day when I should have been lifting him.”

Hawkins was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of cancer that is extremely rare in people under the age of 70. As he went into remission, it was discovered that his wife Elaine had breast cancer.

Duff continued: “Again we put posts Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and surprised the lads and (Hawkins) spoke to the lads for half-an-hour.

“We didn’t show anything on Drogheda, we let Colin speak and Boydy (Sean Boyd) came out, he said it was the best meeting he had in three years. It put everything in perspective and really hit home.

“Then on to this week, Joey again, ‘gaffer, what will we do?’ I dunno, I’m running out of ideas.

“I threw in, ‘What about Jose?’. ‘Why Jose?’. Because do I try and build, have we tried to build a siege mentality, us against the world like he did? Absolutely. It would be mad not to tap into him.

“So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, there were posts on the Instagram page; powerful lyrics, powerful words that would resonate and have a meaning to tie in for tonight.

“Then in the team meeting [today] there was a private message from Jose speaking about what it takes to win a title as a team, as an individual. It blew the guys away. A video that was shown in the Everglades two hours before the game.

“Again, people think I’m mad but I’m a proudly deep thinker. I don’t always get it right, the last three weeks myself and the staff I would like to think have got it right.

“We’ve been so calm and tapped into other people because I don’t think I’m any type of expert, far from it.”

Duff added that Mourinho ultimately cost him €500 towards the players’ title-winning bar tab on Saturday.

“Here, it’s not as if I’m in touch with him. I’m not, it was through somebody. Now I have his number I tried to ring him in the dressing room,” he said. “I said to the lads that if he doesn’t pick up I’ll put a monkey on your drinking tab tomorrow.

“Low and behold he didn’t pick up so I owe €500.

“I died on the pitch for Jose, that’s what I’ve always done. His story, Chelsea, 50 years, granted we were 18 (years without a title), and just us against the world.

“Everyone hated Chelsea, everyone hates us, blah, blah, blah. Another chapter in the story.”

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Duff added that he was right to use the ‘Hollywood’ line in his post-match comments to RTÉ, when describing Shelbourne’s title win.

“I don't think anyone can debate it. If we said at the start of the season that we would win the league a lot of people would've laughed,” he said. “We've been written off many, many times. So it is absolutely Hollywood.

“That's why people four, five, six times in the last 18 months wanted to do a fly on the wall documentary with us, because it has been a Hollywood story.

“But it would be a bit close to the bone working with us so we always say no.”

Would he consider a Welcome To Wrexham-style documentary now?

“Eh no. If you think we are crazy in front of people, behind closed doors we are even crazier,” he replied.

“It is [like a] Hollywood [script]. There is no doubting it. Ti it in with the whole season, the twists and turns, call it what you want.

“Call it what you want. Rovers are on top the whole night tonight and we score in the 85th minute, it is absolutely Hollywood. There is no debating.”

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