Damien Duff shuts down title defence talk and Champions League dreams ahead of the new campaign

Shelbourne manager Damien Duff has a growing list of banned words at the club ahead of the start of the new season.

Duff leads his side into the 2025 campaign as defending champions, but he won't hear talk of Shelbourne being the favourites and has banned all mention of retaining or defending their title.

As for mentioning the Champions League, don’t even think about it.

With preparations for the new campaign building up and fresh faces settling into the squad, Duff is adamant that the achievements of last year count for little now and is eager to position Shels as underdogs again.

"I don't think we’re favourites, I wouldn't put us as favourites," he said at the launch of the new Shels away jersey. "We weren't favourites last year and I don't see us as favourites this year.

"Rovers will always be favourites. Derry have a very experienced football team. St Pat's are near on favourites because they won nine games in a row [at the end of last season].

"The only real pressure at this football club comes from the staff, and that comes every day.

"Retain and defend are words I don't like and we haven't been using them.

"Defending a title always feels to me like you're taking a backward step and you're just trying to protect something. So it's not about defending or retaining the title, it's about winning the title.

"That's what it's about for me."

When asked whether it is a privilege to have teams chasing them as the champions, Duff found another word to add to the list.

" Chasing? We're all on zero points. So, what did I say? Defend, and retain, and now chase.

"We all start off on a level par so for me it's forgotten about of course. It should give the boys confidence. But, as for chasing, it doesn't make sense to me, because we're all