Damien Duff walking tall despite 'horrendous' cup final result

Damien Duff was left searching for positives after what he described as a "horrendous result", losing the Extra.ie FAI Cup final 4-0 to Derry City at the Aviva Stadium.

The Shelbourne manager admitted that his players failed to perform to their optimum on the big day, as they were effectively outclassed by a top-quality Derry side who scored twice in each half to record the comprehensive victory.

Yet the former Ireland international vowed to walk out of Lansdowne Road with his head held high following a positive season for his side, who had returned to the top tier of Irish football in 2022.

"On paper, you could say it's a humiliating result, but I walked into this stadium immensely proud today, and I’ll leave immensely proud," said Duff, speaking at the post match press conference.

"The lads have been fantastic all year, but we haven’t given our best performance today. That’s always going to be your fear.

"It’s a young team with not a lot of big-game experience. That was always the worry at the back of your mind and it’s ended up being true.

"We haven’t given a top, top performance. I could just feel a flatness, maybe the emotion of the game got to us and they capitalised on that, as simple as that.

"At the end of the day, sometimes it comes down to that bit of quality. They have that experience in abundance, they’ve top players in the league for many years. We know they’ve proper superstars, League of Ireland superstars, in their team."

Duff admitted that he had difficult decisions to make in relation to picking his starting eleven, eventually opting to name Shane Farrell from the start of the game, despite the fact that he was struggling to be fully fit in the lead up to the finale.

However, the Shelbourne manager said that