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THE FIRST THING the Shelbourne manager Damien Duff did at full-time tonight when his team were confirmed as champions of Ireland for the first time since 2006 was be swarmed by his bench and engulfed in love and affection.
There will be thousands more back in Dublin waiting to do the same.
Harry Wood will be next in line after the substitute scored the goal that will go down in lore four minutes from time.
Within minutes of the final whistle almost all of the 300 away fans were on the pitch too.
Shamrock Rovers streak of league titles has ended at four, and one of the greatest League of Ireland teams of all give way to one of the best Irish sporting stories in a long, long time.
Rovers upheld their bargain, nervily beating Waterford 2-1, all the while hoping not to hear anything from Shelbourne’s game at Derry. But ultimately, Wood’s late, late goal for Shelbourne arrived for Rovers fans like the recordings from a black box: something you only hear when it’s all gone wrong.
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Wrapped up a great season. Delighted the LOI is on the up and Duffer is a credit to the league and the country.
@eoin fitzpatrick: I love the league but a team winning the league with 63 points after 36 games is desperate to be honest. Shels over rovers every day but the standard was shocking all year.
@Sean Newberry: Shocking is harsh. Rovers, Shels and Pat’s are all good sides. Pat’s were brilliant towards the end. Strange season but enjoyable and lots of fun.
@Sean Newberry: The points total isn’t a sign of quality. It more due to how competitive the league is
@Sean Newberry: It’s better than the top two winning the vast majority of their matches, getting 90+ points. Far more unpredictable this season.
Fair play Shels, enjoy the celebrations. As a Rovers fan I thought (was hoping) we’d done enough but not to be. Truth be told, Rovers far too inconsistent in the league and probably should have been well out of challenging ages ago! Anyways, onto Europe…well done again to Shels.
Absolutely delighted! They were 18 long years but definitely worth the wait
Great to see, was sick of the Shams winning it every year
Pity they didn’t have TV camera in tolka
@Stephen Byrne: it’s literally all over social media
@Dixie: some people might not be on social media
@Stephen Byrne: Game was on live on RTE 2, and in the Brandywell… Cameras would have filmed nothing in Tolka, simply because there wasn’t a game there you m0r0n
@Trevor McCormack: There was over 1000 Shels fans watching the match on big screens in Tolka, so I’d imagine he was wanting to see the sceans of celebrations from there. Maybe have a wee think before you call people names.
@Colin Howard: “scenes”
Why does Damien go around like a angry bunny enjoy and smile your brilliant achievement
@Tim & Emer Brennan: Because he’s a winner!
Well done Shels
Duff needs to tidy up his appearance and look up a bit more, maybe even the odd smile who knows
@Dixie: Why so?
incredible finish to a brilliant season with all teams involved. I was in Tolka all those 18 years ago when we beat Boh’s 1-0 and funny enough, it was between us and Derry and there was actually a helicopter with the trophy on board hovering over the Island waiting to deliver to the champions….US
Well done lads ladies everyone else and the duffer
The next step for the LOI has to be to improve the stadiums/facilities. It won’t be taken properly seriously until the stadiums are decent.
Good job they held out to win after the miss by Harry. He would have been sick as a parrot.
Good for soccer in the country.
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