As they say, "class is permanent".
That's certainly the case at Shamrock Rovers training as the current squad found out when they took on the former Ireland internationals on the staff and training at the club.
A tweet posted on Twitter by Rovers forward Gary Shaw divulged a free-flowing attacking move involving sporting director Stephen McPhail, youth coach Damien Duff and Robbie Keane, who is training at the club, which ended up in a goal.
A goal was scored today in training.. it started with McPhail, who played out wide to Duff who in turn crossed for Keane to finish.
— Gary Shaw (@gary_shaw10) September 12, 2017
Ahead of the EA Sports Cup final between Rovers and Dundalk, Oisin Langan caught up with Shamrock Rovers midfielder David McAllister and the ex-Sheffield United and Shrewsbury player talked up the experience of of working with ex-Chelsea winger Duff, Ireland record goalscorer Keane and ex-Leeds player McPhail at close quarters.
"It's brilliant. We actually played a few 5-a-side tournaments yesterday and I don't like saying this but the staff beat us. They won the whole tournament. So we haven't heard the end of it now," he said.
"All days it's just been constantly in our ears and we're saying, 'That's not the confidence we want coming up to the cup final'. But no, it's great and the names you've said there are all different positions as well. It's great. The likes of myself can go to Stephen McPhail or Glen Cronin and talk about central midfield. The wingers can go to Damien Duff and the strikers are trying to learn things off Robbie Keane. So it's brilliant."
And having not had the opportunity to go on long cup runs while playing in England, McAllister is relishing the chance to line up in a final.
Oisin also caught up with Dundalk midfielder Robbie Benson ahead of the final and he touched on Stephen Kenny's ability as a manager and whether the Ireland job will one day be in his sights.
They also looked ahead to Saturday's EA Sports Cup final:
âš½ï¸ @DundalkFC take on @ShamrockRovers in the EA Sports Cup final on Saturday. @oisinlangan caught up with Dundalk's Robbie Benson #OTB #loi pic.twitter.com/amwCIuV2mi
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) September 14, 2017
