Luke Byrne reckons Shelbourne are masters at 'p*****g everyone off' - and makes no apologies for it.
The Reds skipper credits Damien Duff with creating a siege mentality that has got under the skin of rivals.
“I think he secretly loves that we wind up other teams,” said Byrne ahead of tonight’s derby clash with St Pat’s.
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Shels are unbeaten in eight games and Byrne admits there’s no love lost between the capital rivals.
“It’s the biggest Dublin derby, for me,” he said. “It’s because of the flashpoints in games between us - the sendings off, 4-4, late goals, celebrations, things said.
“It’s been like a domino every time we play them and the league needs storylines like that. Needle is great, it’s what the fans want.
“I saw it in years gone by, but it has actually changed a bit. You go to play a game and half the team is hugging the other team before the match.
“I’d hate it if I was watching Man United and it was like that. But I feel the league has come away from that.
“I don’t know whether it’s a new generation of players, or a lot of players coming from outside the league and they just don’t know each other.
“But there's been a lot more mouthing on the pitch. There’s just more needle around the league with so much riding on games and I enjoy that.”
And Byrne loves how Ireland legend and Shels boss Duff has developed a knack of irking rival teams and fans.
“We have this image of pissing everyone off and the lads love it with the likes of Sean Boyd playing up to it most weeks, so it’ll be good to get him back from injury.
“(Duff) has developed a siege mentality. He doesn't care what other managers think about us, or say about us.
“All he’s interested in is doing his best for Shelbourne and winning games. He doesn't care about the niceties that some people in football place a lot of value on.
“Even the stuff you see on Twitter - every interview he does gets more views and comments and winds people up.
“Other fans, they sing about him and get wound up when he does something as the game is ongoing. Other players get wound up by him too.”
And Byrne added: “He's such a big character but he’s not doing it to wind people up, that's the thing. It's just who he is. He's emotional and passionate.
“There’s that thing in Ireland where people always want to put other people down and have something to say about people who are maybe in the spotlight.
“But he has lived that his whole life and I don't think it's going to bother him now.”
Meanwhile, Byrne knows he is heading for knee replacements and a general lack of mobility when he retires from football.
Twice a week, every week, his doctor inserts needles into both his knees to drain up to 25 mls of fluid.
Is it any wonder his Shels team-mates call him Ledley King, after the former Tottenham centre-back who was dogged by crippling injuries.
You might think such a bleak outlook would deter the Shels skipper from prolonging the extreme pain he experiences during and after games.
But the 29-year-old doesn’t see it that way. Not having battled back from two serious knee injuries - one a cruciate - in his Shamrock Rovers days.
It’s why he plays through the pain barrier and, with Damien Duff’s blessing, manages his week in such a way that he can still stay at the top of his game.
And that determination is what Duff was getting at before, when he hailed Byrne as the best captain he has ever worked with as a player or a coach.
When you consider the heights the Ireland centurion and two-time Premier League winner scaled, in teams led by Roy Keane and John Terry, that’s quite the compliment.
“I’ve got chronic injuries in both my knees,” says Byrne, ahead of tonight’s derby clash at Tolka Park.
“My knees blow up and I’m walking around the gaff like a mummy with bandages all over me trying to keep the swelling down.
“I get them aspirated every week. A needle goes into both knees and drains. There could be 25mls out of each knee, or 15 from one, 10 from another. It changes.
“The lads call me Ledley King as it’s the same issue he would have had, the contra defect in his knees.
“Basically the cartilage is gone, the joint is cracked and it just spits fluid out all of the time.
“It’s a case of doing enough training so I don’t get injured, but not too much training. It’s a weekly see-saw, of how much to train, how much rest.
“Saturdays are actually not too bad. I bounce out of bed on a Saturday. It’s on Sunday and Monday when the manager says I look 100 years old.
“He doesn’t really want to see me on a Monday and I tend to just see him on a Thursday.
“But I’ve played more than I would have expected to by now, in 11 of the 15 games. It’s just something I have to manage.
“I didn’t really struggle with it last year but it accelerated towards the end of the season. I suffered with it a lot in pre-season and didn’t actually do a pre-season.”
While at Rovers, Byrne had to get 45% of the cartilage in each knee removed and, with the bones rubbing together, was told it would deteriorate with age.
“When it happened I was thinking ‘whatever, I’ll be fine’. But you blink and you’re 29, nearly 30,” he says.
As the centre-back describes how sore it is to twist and turn in games, it dawns on him that he’s arming St Pat’s with valuable information and ammunition.
Particularly so for their striker Eoin Doyle, who will be Byrne’s direct opponent.
But Byrne just as quickly swats away that realisation, insisting he has nothing to hide any more.
“You’re in pain and your brain is telling you not to do a particular movement, but when there’s a striker in front of you, or a ball, you just have to do it.
“It’s your instincts. I’m not playing with a broken leg or a torn cruciate, it’s a chronic joint issue.
“There are probably more players around the league who have similar things, mine is just further along than I would have hoped at my age.”
Byrne knows what’s coming down the tracks and continues: “I know I’m probably going to have to get knee replacements.
“And I know I’ll have to retire before I would have wanted to.
“But I don’t really care about knee replacements or lack of mobility when I’m older if I can just get as much out of my career while I can.
“I’ve probably a similar attitude to the manager as he would have spoken to me about the end of his career.
“He knew he was going to suffer when he retired with the injuries he was playing with, but your career is so short and he was adamant in his decision to keep playing.
“That’s how I would be. I wouldn’t like to hang around if I didn’t feel like I could contribute on the pitch.
“I wouldn’t hang around as a captain who is there in the background blocking a young player coming through.
“So there’s a decision to be made as you give so much of your life to get out there, to play on a Friday, it’s nearly 24/7 appointments, ice baths, all sorts of stuff.”
Smiling, Byrne added: “My Mam learned a long time ago that I won’t listen to her when it comes to football but I know what she would probably rather me do.
“She would rather wrap me in cotton wool and just have a normal life, be able to walk the dog and all that kind of thing.
“But football has always been the priority for me so I’m willing to suffer the consequences.”
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