Secret of success for League of Ireland's most decorated player? 'A bottle of Holy water from my Ma'

David Sneyd

YOU NEVER KNOW what you might end up with from the LIDL middle aisle.

“You come for milk and you leave with a lawnmower,” Sean Gannon said on Friday night after collecting the 10th League of Ireland winners’ medal of his career.

There is some debate about the actual total, which he would discuss later.

Before that he was able to clear up the story of how he joined Shelbourne last year, and “the maddest dog walk ever.”

In the case of Damien Duff, he arrived at the supermarket chain not too far from Tolka Park in late 2023 and left with the most successful right back in the country.

Gannon was escaping the madness of building work in his house when the course of this stage of his career was changed utterly. He had won three titles on the spin with Shamrock Rovers but knew his time was up. Now 33 he is a league winner with four clubs – Rovers, St Patrick’s Athletic, Dundalk and Shels.

“I was outside LIDL in East Wall. I was getting work done in my house and I was in my Rovers gear after coming home from training,” he said.

First he heard the horn. “Beeeeeeep,” Gannon said, laughing.

Then he saw the jeep. “Beeeeeeep.”

Then he heard the shout. “Gannnnooooooo!!”

It was Duff.

“He pulled in, the hazards were on. He jumped out. I didn’t know if I was getting clipped or something,” Gannon said, laughing again. “As soon as I met the manager, he’s infectious.

“For me, I think, I was around the league a long time, I knew if I was done at a place, it was important for me to get back playing as much as I possibly could. It’s a short career at the end of the day and I knew what I wanted from my next move. And once I met the manager and Joey [O'Brien] and sat with them, I knew it was the place to me

“The manager had made his feelings clear that he wanted to sign me. He’s showing me how I can improve my game, before I even signed. I can’t explain how hard working the environment is. An amazing year. I feel as fit as I’ve ever felt.

“Last year I struggled with injury. This year I think I’ve missed two games, it’s relentless. he wants me up down, up down, but when you have someone pushing you like that, all you can do is improve. You just don’t accept standards dropping or levels dropping.”

This year has had major low points personally with the death of his partner’s father. He was also dealing with matters in his private life at the end of his time in Tallaght, although he accepts the reason for the fresh start was down to a simple football decision.

“You try and keep stuff separate from football but certain things probably affected my football as I mentioned. Look, life happens, we are footballers but we have lives outside the game that are probably forgotten about sometimes.

“You just need to be there for people. Things happen off the pitch. it’s not an excuse. My form at times was not good enough to be in the starting team in such a strong squad, that’s just a reality.”

The winners’ medal was dangling around his neck, but not for long. “I’ll give it to my Dad. He has a shrine in the house, only short of lighting a candle on it. He has every programme, medal. On European trips you get all-access badges, if I come home without one he’s giving out to me.

“I’m delighted for my family. They’re the support, the ones who are with you when you go through the tough times and they’re the one who celebrate the good times with you. My emotions are all over the place here.”

Gannon’s Dad has 10 of his son’s winners’ medals at home because he never received one for the 2011 title win with Rovers, despite making one appearance.

For his Mam, well, she’s played her part in a different way even if she can’t bring herself to watch her son actually play.

“My Ma can’t watch, a nervous wreck. No doubt she was behind the sofa [on Friday]. She actually works in a church and I’d say she’s lit about a million candles. I’m not even joking.

“She just keeps ringing me ‘I’m after lighting another one there’ – Saint Theresa, St Anthony, everything, and I’m like ‘alright Ma, you’ve every saint in the bible praying for us here’. I’ve a bottle of holy water in the bag there, from my Ma. I don’t know where she got it, but she’s put it in the bag. It’s been there for a few years. Put it on Ebay now will I? It’s worked.”

You won’t get another bottle – or 10 medals – in any middle aisle.