Duff’s attacking genius crucial, says Kilbane

THE captivating skill of the talented Damien Duff has never been more important to Ireland, according to team-mate Kevin Kilbane, as he looked ahead to Saturday’s European Championship tie against Albania at Lansdowne Road.

Duff's attacking genius will be crucial, said Kilbane as Ireland chase the points which they need to qualify for the finals in Portugal next year.

And the 10 other Irish players on the pitch will all be conscious of the need to give Duff as much as the ball as possible.

The Blackburn Rovers forward showcased his special ability at last year's World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea.

Since then he has been given a more flexible role with Ireland by Brian Kerr, and Kilbane explained why after Ireland's training session yesterday in Dublin.

"When you have a talented player like Damien in your team it is good to give him the freedom of the park. That is certainly what we did in the last game and he excelled in the role he played," the Sunderland winger said.

Kilbane was referring to the friendly international against Norway on April 30 at Lansdowne when Duff scored the goal that gave Ireland a 1-0 win.

In that match, Duff assumed the role he had enjoyed at underage level with Ireland when Kerr was his manager.

He played just behind strikers Robbie Keane and David Connolly.

"When you have a player like him in the side everybody is trying to get him on the ball as often as possible," said Kilbane.

"He has the skill to take on any defence and make things happen. The more possession he has the less the opposition will like it and we aim to give him as much as we can."

Kilbane, after a difficult season with Sunderland, is virtually certain to be given a starting role again with Ireland on the left of midfield

But in order to give Duff the freedom to operate on the touchline he so loves, Kilbane will probably be delegated a more central role, tucked in alongside Matt Holland and Mark Kinsella.

Ireland will need numbers in the central midfield area that teams like Albania seek to dominate with skilful, ball-playing footballers.

And Kilbane is ready to take on any role accorded him after a season when he showed his versatility with the north-east England club.

"I played in a few positions for Sunderland last season, but wide left and in central midfield were probably the positions I played most of the season, but I enjoyed it wherever I was playing.

The season went okay for me personally but that was not reflected in the results that Sunderland have had. Next season we're looking to build with the youngsters who are going to come in."

Several of those youngsters are Irish players and Kilbane identified the most promising of them when he said: "Sean Thornton, Thomas Butler and Richie Ryan are three who are coming in now to the first team.

Sean has made a big impact this season on the team so a lot of people will recognise him.

He's technically very good on the ball, very good at set-pieces and I'm sure over the next two or three years some of those lads will be making their full international debuts.

"I know Thomas has already played for the full international side but Sean and Richie will be looking to follow him. Richie plays in the middle of the field.

He is only 17 and still very young obviously but he made his debut in the north-east derby, so to make your debut in that sort of game in that pressured environment and to come through with flying colours shows that he is one for the future."

Kilbane, whose huge contribution to the team effort is now being recognised at last by the fans, is now a relatively seasoned international.

He brings some important qualities to Ireland's play, not least his formidable strength in the air.

Shay Given will look to use this ability when placing his clearances.

Kilbane's headed goal against Scotland in the friendly at Hampden Park on February 12 highlighted this quality in his game and Ireland will need to make use of all the scoring talent they have at their disposal if they are to cope with the challenge of Albania.

Said Kilbane: "The game against Albania will be very tough, that goes without saying. They've got good players and before the qualifying they were probably written off a little bit, nobody seemed to give them a chance.

They've got good attacking midfield players who try to get forward and get crosses into the box and they have the big lad up front (Igle Tare of Brescia) who caused us some problems as well.

We know it will be difficult and we have to try and scupper them early and get into them and get the old-fashioned tackles in and stop them from developing their game early on."

Kilbane said that the players were discussing which song they would adopt at their anthem in response to the FAI's plan to inject more atmosphere into matches at Lansdowne.

The Fields of Athenry was, of course, already mentioned as a possibility and the intention is to build the noise level to a height comparable to that normally achieved in stadiums that house more emotional fans like those in Albania and Georgia, Ireland's next opponents.

"These next two games are going to be massive for us, we know that," Kilbane admitted.

"But we feel we have a good chance of winning both of them. We're not going into the games thinking it's going to be easy and expecting it just to happen for us."