The Duff effect: Is the League of Ireland on the cusp of something?

On Wednesday morning, five days after winning the 2024 League of Ireland title, Shelbourne started selling tickets for 2025. Initially these were renewal sales for existing season ticket holders. In 24 hours, more than 1,000 had renewed.
On Friday morning Shelbourne opened the season ticket option to general sale. By mid-afternoon hundreds more had been sold. Last season’s total could be gone in 72 hours.
Just before the Derry match, as Shamrock Rovers pushed Shels for the league title, season ticket renewals were opened, followed by members’ sales. By this midweek in Tallaght more than 2,000 had been sold.
At Cork City, promoted back to where the club knows it should be, season tickets do not go on sale until Monday. The capacity at Turner’s Cross means there is not such a demand – fans know they can make a choice on the day. But if sales move past 1,000 quickly, then Cork too will know something is happening.
Here we are pre-FAI Cup final 2024 and it feels like anticipation for season 2025 has begun. That is no slight on Derry City or Drogheda United, two non-Dublin clubs who will have a crowd of around 37,000 at Lansdowne Road on Sunday.
Each of these figures supports the others.
There has been a surge, particularly over the past few weeks, in what might be termed the “Duff effect”, and some will be tiring of hearing about it.
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But there is no doubt it has run alongside, and added to, a longer, post-Covid rise in fans through the gate. On the opening night of the 2023 season, Cork v Bohemians sold out – 6,500. Cork’s audience is proven. Last season in the First Division there were 5,500 at the Kerry game. The enthusiasm is there.
What will be monitored is whether the uplift around the league is seen in further footfall in Cork, who are likely to lose more than twice next season. That will provoke different questions for the club.
But a feeling is already apparent. As Eanna Buckley says: “Are we on the cusp of something?”
Buckley, club secretary and a Cork stalwart of 18 years, asks it of the league in general. “We’ll see,” he says.
“What I can say is that the game is part of the conversation in a way I’ve not known before. Partly that’s down to the club being larger – we’ve a senior men’s team, a women’s team, seven academy teams, a Down syndrome futsal team, an amputee team. It means the club has a much larger footprint and then resonates with more people.”
The return of Sean Maguire in August was a signal of Cork intent, of sporting ambition being franked by economic investment. “Seani Maguire, the manager, says he’s like the Fifth Beatle in Cork,” laughs Buckley.
It is also more evidence of the persuasive nature of names and personalities and we should not shy away from that. Maguire did not return to play in the First Division and Duff has shown he is not at Tolka Park to fill in a few hours. The sincerity of their commitment to the League is part of their appeal and part of the expansion.
Cork join Waterford, Galway United, Sligo Rovers, Derry City and (possibly) Drogheda United in a geographic spread that will entice ever more eyeballs.
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As a club grows it touches more people directly, as Buckley says. And also as a club grows it requires more people to work inside it. Historically the League of Ireland has relied upon, and would have died without, volunteers. Buckley appreciates that from the coalface. Ten years ago Cork City fluctuated between one full-time member of staff and two. Today it’s six.
Similarly, Shelbourne now have seven full-time staff; three years ago it was one – CEO Dave O’Connor. And the increasing professionalisation of the league was illustrated in last week’s Economic Impact Assessment. There are 131 administrative staff across the league, with 76 full-time.
Granted, these are small-scale businesses and the Irish fans who travel to Liverpool or Manchester or Glasgow on a weekend will view them as such. Indeed, by comparison they are.
But within the clubs themselves the contrast is striking. In, say, 2018, Shels were third in the First Division, beaten in the play-offs, and had around 500 season-ticket holders in total. In the 28 days leading to this month’s dramatic fixture at the Brandywell, Shelbourne’s social media accounts had eight million unique views.
The word unprecedented was used non-stop during Covid and it’s being used again at Tolka Park. The little club shop at the ground remains open but the merchandise has practically gone – don’t worry, there’ll be fresh stock and a new shirt sponsor along soon.
Duff will be back for an unveiling, no doubt, following a well-deserved break. A measure of his impact, and Rovers’ status, was their presence on the front page of The Sun last Friday morning. You could see it endorsed by the record RTÉ viewing figures from Derry. And as those inside all the clubs say, you can hear it in everyday chat.
Is this too positive? Haven’t clubs extended themselves before and fallen?
One retort would be: have you seen the finances of clubs in England’s Championship?
But another would be that this feels different. For the first time anyone at Shels can recall, they have even had a discussion around a cap on the number of season tickets. The club want to ensure people can still buy walk-up tickets so new faces can enjoy the experience of a Tolka Park Friday night.
In Tallaght they have their own circle to square. Although a historic five-in-a-row was a possibility, Rovers’ league campaign was hampered by hamstrings and form and by, understandably, having an eye on Europe.
As Stephen Bradley’s team demonstrated on Thursday against TNS, just as they did against Larne, they have two eyes on it now. Winning one Europa Conference League game is worth €400k, three times as much as winning the League of Ireland – something that needs to be addressed – and the money Rovers are accumulating reinforces their power.
Within the club it also helps to maintain a strategy designed before the Euro millions arrived: affordable football. An adult season ticket at Tallaght works out at just over €13 per game. In Dublin?
Rovers may find themselves distracted by more big European nights come February. They will be still be favourites to be champions again next season. But then, surely Shels will go again, and what about how St Pat’s ended the season?
It doesn’t start for another three months . . .