YOU’D have to travel far and wide in Irish football to find a better defensive pivot than Chris Shields.
The 32-year-old Dubliner learned his trade under Stephen Kenny at Dundalk and really hit the heights during the border club’s Europa League odyssey in 2016.
Courage comes in many forms. Shields showed his by always wanting the ball in any situation.
No matter how tightly marked he was, he would demand the ball from his defenders and goalkeeper because he felt it was his duty to initiate his team’s next attack. And the one after that.
He’s been doing exactly this since he signed from Linfield a couple of seasons ago.
It’s doubtful the Blues would have been as successful without him anchoring their midfield because he gives the team structure, both from a defensive and an attacking point of view.
On Tuesday night, he probably faced one of his toughest opponents.
From the first to the 82nd minute of the top-of-the-table clash, Rory Hale of Cliftonville didn’t give Shields a moment’s peace.
Giving serious height and weight advantages away, as he does most days, Hale was an absolute pest. A blue bottle that Shields couldn’t swat away.
Hale comes from good stock. His grandfather, Danny, is a legend of the road in north Belfast.
Danny Hale was a supremely gifted, tenacious footballer who cut a dash for Derry City and Crusaders in the 1960s.
Now 81, Danny was so highly regarded at Crusaders, the club named a lounge after their fearless front man.
Danny senior’s son, also Danny, was another brilliant footballer. He had the skills set to make it across the water and had chances to go. A home bird at heart, Danny jr stayed loyal to his local club Newington where he won a host of junior and intermediate honours.
In sporting terms, the Hale gene pool is as good as it gets with Rory and younger sibling Ronan two of the driving forces in Paddy McLaughlin’s Cliftonville team.
In his teens, Rory was making steady gains at Aston Villa, captaining the club’s U23s and training regularly with the first team – until, one day, the-then manager Steve Bruce called him into his office and told him he wouldn’t be getting another contract.
He broke the news to the player two weeks before end of the season.
Bruce’s timing was lousy.
In football terms, Hale was orphaned in a minute, his world shattered into a million pieces. So many young footballers have a similar story to tell.
So many return home, fall out of love with the game and maybe never kick a ball again.
Coming from such a close-knit family and community, Rory Hale could have been forgiven in turning his back on the game and doing something else with his life.
The-then 20-year-old striker started putting the pieces back together again.
In 2017, Shane Keegan took him under his wing at Galway United and Hale repaid him with a string of brilliant, gutsy performances.
He soon moved to Derry City and enjoyed a successful spell at the Brandywell during Kenny Shiels’ reign and was receiving regular call-ups to Stephen Kenny’s Republic of Ireland’s U21 team.
With each move he got closer to home. Crusaders was his next stop.
Stephen Baxter saw him as a sitting midfielder. Hale was diligent but ultimately miscast in the role.
With the kind of boundless energy he carries in his wiry frame, Hale was always designed to play higher up the pitch.
He eventually landed at his preferred destination – Cliftonville FC – in 2021.
Injuries effectively wrecked the second half of last season, but in the current campaign everyone associated with the club – and even opponents like Chris Shields – must have a deep appreciation for what he’s doing in an attacking midfield role.
Hale has put all his experiences in football to good use too and become a highly regarded coach in his own right.
Of a high technical mind and with hugely under-rated game intelligence, Hale showed that to be successful, you need more than those things.
You need desire.
It’s probably a cliché at this stage but Hale ran himself into the ground on Tuesday night. He literally ran – sprinted even - for 82 minutes before Paddy McLaughlin realised he could give no more and duly substituted him.
We all are wooed by the midfielder who can spray cross-field passes and can flick the ball around corners, do all those aesthetically pleasing things that football fans love to see.
But every time Hale harassed Shields, the more his selfless runs and closing down was appreciated by supporters.
Rarely do you come away from a game where hard graft evolves into a kind of gritty art-form.
To do what Hale did for 82 minutes the other night, you must absolutely and utterly love every aspect of the game. You cannot impersonate passion.
And you sometimes wonder what might have been had Steve Bruce offered him a new contract at Aston Villa back in 2017.
Hale was absolutely incessant – creating attacking moments for his team while also ‘hammering the hammer’, trying to disable the opposition’s metronome.
Shields, to his eternal credit, never stopped showing for the ball, accepting it from all angles – and Hale pursued him with the kind of vigour and diligence that inspires those around him.
In what was probably never going to be a great spectacle, there was nevertheless some intriguing sub-plots.
Shields versus Hale was one of the best duels you’ll see in local football this season. Shields never stopped. And neither did Hale.
Cliftonville team-mate Ronan Doherty commented: “If you see one of your friends doing that, you say: Right! And it gets everybody going, the whole team starts running as hard as he’s running. When you’re beside Rory, you feel that you have to do that too.”
The unquenchable desire the Newington man showed on Tuesday night was truly uplifting.
When a player runs so hard for so long and sets the tone for the rest of his team-mates tells you that that team has no ceiling.
And for any aspiring young footballer wanting to learn more about the game, they should watch a re-run of Rory Hale's performance against Linfield.
It's the greatest coaching lesson they'll ever get.
