SHELBOURNE MANAGER DAMIEN Duff says he has huge sympathy for Derry City midfielder Sadou Diallo who misses Sunday’s showpiece FAI Cup Final due to suspension.
The Guinean-born Englishman was harshly sent off in Sunday’s final league game of the season as Derry lost 1-0 at home to Dundalk.
Diallo tangled with Dundalk defender Robbie McCourt and both received red cards.
Normally, automatic suspensions would be used up in the next game of the same competition. But as that was the final league game of the year it must be served in the next competitive match which is the cup final.
“I feel sorry for the young kid,” said Duff, who rates Diallo highly.
“He’a a fantastic player. One of his first games was against us and I was texting Ruaidhri (Higgins, Derry boss) after the game ‘Who is this guy?’.
“Speaking to Ruaidhri, he’s a pretty humble, religious boy.
“I saw the incident, it’s unfortunate. It’s a ridiculous rule.
“You look after yourself all year in the cup to help you play in the final and then told in the last league games if you get a red you miss the final.”
Mindful of such a scenario as his side lost 4-0 at St Patrick’s Athletic the same day, Duff substituted his creative midfielder Jack Moylan after he received a yellow card in the first half of their 4-0 defeat at Richmond Park.
“It’s separate all year, so it doesn’t make sense,” added Duff of the ruling.
“We were on tenterhooks on Sunday, a) for injuries and b) for someone getting sent off.
“It was ridiculous, but we had to adapt.”
Duff’s chief concern ahead of the decider is the fitness of talisman winger Shane Farrell who didn’t feature in Inchicore.
“He’s doing a bit of light work in gym and had a walk around the (Aviva) pitch yesterday, but as yet he’s not participated in a full training session.
“Am I worried? Of course, Yes. His biggest worry is putting on a suit as he’s not worn one in his life!
“But fingers crossed. He’s a living legend day at Shels. They love him. He loves the club.
“Is he out? No. I’ll do all I can to get him fit.”
He’d certainly rather swap a suit for a jersey on Sunday?
“Nice line. Say no more!” quipped Duff.
Somewhere Phil Kearns is having an absolute meltdown about the unfairness of it all…
Great to see Jaguares win, hope they can follow up next week.
Argentina are 50-1 for the world cup! Insane odds given how well the Jaguares are going. Plus they always underperform in the Rugby Championship cos of the distances they have to travel. Given Ireland are 5-1, this seems pretty long for the Argies.
@Farzad Saadat: Pool C will see a big faller at the 1st. France, England and Argentina will be interesting. You’d think France could be the one to miss out but they’ve been ruthless with their squad selection, brought in O’Gara and you only have to look at 2011 when they had no chance and made the final. England could find themselves in a similar fate to 2015, after a great start under Jones they had an awful run of loses. Argentina always peak at world cup time. Exciting!
@RabidHorizon: Did they bring in O’Gara in the end? I thought that was all just rumours in the end
@Eddie Hekenui: No they didn’t in the end
@Ciaran Twomey: Cheers. Thought I might’ve missed the news he’d taken a role with them.
@Farzad Saadat: Madness considering they have knocked us out of 3 of the last 5 RWCs.
@RabidHorizon: they didn’t bring in O’Gara
@RabidHorizon: France brought in much better coaches than O’Gara, they should get a real boost – Labit and Galthié – they picked the right squad, too. I think England could be the team to miss out..
Brumbies should never have made it to a semi. Awful team but get lucky because of how weak their conference is.
@#JUSTICE4NOEL:
Aussie Rugby is in a bad place right now.
Unreal for the sport!! Makes the competition a whole lot more competitive! Will be interesting to see how far Argentina go at the WC.
@Aaron Tynan: Further than us, I fear.
@Bluepoolroad: draw kinder to them I think than Ireland – SA or NZ is a tough 1/4
The second semi just finished. Cracking game. 30-26 crusaders.
That jaguares kit is lovely
@Eoin Murphy: i wonder where one could buy it?
@Tony Stack: https://www.elverys.ie/elverys/en/search?text=jaguares
Great. When Argentina played in the November series against Ireland. Which i went too. It was the Jaguares team.
Jags play flat and pass wonderfully, it’s great to watch. The crowd was brilliant too.
I think the Crusaders will have too much for them at home, but I’d love to see the Jags win it.
Where’s the final taking place?
@Bluepoolroad: crusaders ground
@Bluepoolroad: Crusaders home stadium in Christchurch, super rugby needs to start playing them in neutral venues, even if it’s in the higher ranked clubs home country. Home stadium advantage is a bit much for a final.
@Con Al: The problem is distances. Say Cape Town was this year’s venue, how many Jaguares and Crusaders supporters are going to make it at a weeks notice? Stadium would be near empty. At least in the current system, one set of supporters see the final and home advantage is based on merit earned during the season. Not perfect, but understandable system