David Sneyd

THREE HUNDRED SHELBOURNE fans will make up the official allocation in the away end at the Ryan McBride Brandywell tonight.

Victory over Derry City will guarantee a first League of Ireland Premier Division title since 2006.

That was the aim for Damien Duff from the first day of pre-season when he gathered his players at the AUL Complex in north Dublin before last Christmas.

Ten months later and they are on the brink of realising that ambition. Other than one week in August, Shels have been top of the table since the start of March.

“To get where I want to go do, I will fall out with anyone. I’m happy to do that, as you’ve seen,” Duff said at his pre-match press conference yesterday.

“At times, I don’t like the person you become when you go over the white line. I think you need to have that edge to have success, as an individual or as team.”

Shelbourne officials planned for one big screen in the middle of Tolka Park to allow 400 or so supporters who couldn’t get tickets watch together. When they were all snapped up in the hours after the announcement earlier this week they had to rent another screen to meet demand. The bar under the Richmond Road stand will be open and the plastic glasses have been bought in bulk.

There could be more than 1,000 in Drumcondra this evening watching events unfold 250 kilometres away.

If Shels win, then even one of the local pubs that Duff and his staff have made a ritual of heading to for a pint after every home game might offer a lock-in.

Events closer to home, across the city at Tallaght Stadium, will also be of interest. Shamrock Rovers must beat Waterford or else Shels will be champions regardless of the outcome of their own game. Duff watched the Hoops edge out Dundalk 1-0 last Sunday to bring it to the final day.

“Burden, hindrance, everyone stressed out, nerves. Again, maybe I’m surprising myself with it, I’m totally fine, probably the most nervous I’ve been all year was the other night because you can’t affect anything and you’re sat on your sofa. Maybe it would have been nice to win it on your sofa last Sunday. I think the real place to win the trophy is in the trenches, not in your living room.”

If Rovers win and Duff’s men can’t beat Derry, Stephen Bradley’s side will become the first club in League of Ireland history to do the five-in-row. The same goes if Rovers win and Shels draw as they have a superior goal difference.

Destiny is around the corner, but heartbreak is lurking with a sledgehammer for someone.

“The most nervous person in my life now is my wife,” Duff said.

“She’s a bundle of nervous energy walking around the house, keeps wanting to talk about permutations and ‘what if this happens?’ Whereas I don’t want to talk about football at all. There’s absolutely no nerves. Should there be? I don’t know but we are calm.”

So much so that even David McAllister’s Monday morning video analysis session of the win over Drogheda United, with a look ahead to tonight, shined a light on the performance of Duff, assistant Joey O’Brien and goalkeeper coach Paul Skinner during last Saturday’s Tolka Park Centenary Game with Drumcondra.

“I was soon brought down to earth. Well, not that I was strutting around thinking I played well. It wasn’t a great watch.

Wes Hoolahan also made the trip over to take part, donning the red jersey again after leaving with a couple of league winners’ medals in 2005. If Duff had his way he might even have re-joined last season and continued on for this title tilt.

“I tried to sign Wes for the run-in last year, the last 10 or 11 games. I said to him ‘come over, one day a week, two days a week, train, you can stay at mine, make an impact’. So yeah, I did try and sign Wes because I believe in fairytales, and it would have been nice to have him here.”

You have to go back to June for the last time Shels won three Premier Division games on the spin. After back-to-back victories against Waterford and Drogheda over the last couple of weeks they are on the cusp of that feat again. Matty Smith is back from suspension and Duff has a fully fit squad to choose from.

Shels did also attempt to get an extra 10 tickets as part of their away allocation – the recommended 10% of the gate – but the request was denied for security/segregation reasons. The PSNI are also on alert for any stray Dubliners attempting to find their way into the home end.

There have even been whispers around Dublin of some Derry fans being reprimanded by the club for attempting to sell their season tickets and make a few bob. That isn’t quite the case, although Derry did email those supporters at the start of the week reminding them that transferring their season ticket was against the terms and conditions of sale.

It would be just as hot a ticket around town had they not dropped out of contention with defeat last week.

Despite such a stellar season only two of their players – defender Paddy Barrett and midfielder Mark Coyle – made the PFA Ireland team of the year with none making the three-man shortlist for player of the season.

“The players know what I think of them, I absolutely stand over it, it’s a pally, pally league, whether it be other teams or knowing the right people in the Association,” Duff said.

“Do I have pals or know the right people? No. I’m not going to change. So yeah, there is not enough players in the team of the year, there is not anyone up for the player of the year. If I asked the 21 senior players today or tomorrow what’s the one thing they want to win, I think I know what their answer will be.”

There will be 300 people in Derry, another 1,000 in Tolka Park, and thousands more scattered at home and beyond feeling the exact same way.

LIVE - Derry City v Shelbourne, RTÉ 2, 7.45pm

LIVE - Shamrock Rovers v Waterford, RTE News Channel, 7.45pm

Both games will also be on the RTE Player