Damien Duff: Ex-Chelsea winger says reaching FAI Cup final 'blows away anything' he's ever done
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Damien Duff won the Premier League twice with Chelsea
Former Chelsea winger Damien Duff has said that reaching the FAI Cup final as manager of Shelbourne is the best achievement of his career so far.
Duff's side beat Waterford 1-0 on Sunday to reach their first final in the competition since 2011.
The 43-year-old won two Premier League medals with Chelsea and played in the 2002 World Cup for the Republic of Ireland.
"Absolutely amazing, it is dreams come true," he told RTE, external after the win.
"It absolutely blows away anything I've ever done in my career. It was an amazing day, obviously a hostile crowd, four or five thousand.
"Did we play great? No, but I told the guys in the dressing room beforehand, it was 18 lions versus four or five thousand and we came out on top so I couldn't be any prouder."
Duff, who won the League Cup with Blackburn Rovers and reached a Uefa Cup final with Fulham as a player, had a spell as a first-team coach at Celtic and was Stephen Kenny's assistant manager with the Republic of Ireland.
He took over at Shelbourne, his first senior managerial role, just under a year ago and his side are currently seventh in the League of Ireland's Premier Division as the season draws to a close.
Duff joined Chelsea from Blackburn in 2003
His side will play Derry City, currently second in the table, in the FAI Cup final at the Aviva Stadium on 13 November.
Duff, who was an integral member of Jose Mourinho's back-to-back Premier League title-winning Chelsea team in 2005 and 2006, had an interesting response when asked if it was time to start playing mind games when looking ahead to the decider.
"Listen, I will have to change my mindset because all I have said all along is 'get to the final, get to the final'," he explained.
"I never addressed whether we would win in the final. But the guys, the staff, myself, we will have to try and change that mindset. Yes we are in it to win it now but, listen, we have won.
"We shouldn't be here, 'little old Shels' as people call us. Everyone hates us, I think. We are in the division for another year and we are in a final. Hey, it doesn't get any better."