Duff throws one last dummy

So now plenty of us in the media, this reporter included, know what it must be like to be a full-back up against Damien Duff: left stumped, flat on our backsides and with copious quantities of egg on our chin.

The general air of certainty that the 33-year-old would commit to one final campaign for his country was unceremoniously blown apart shortly after midday yesterday when rumours of his retirement from international football began to leak. At around 3.30pm, just before Giovanni Trapattoni began his press conference in Dublin, came the official confirmation that next month’s World Cup qualifier in Kazakhstan will be the first of the post-Duff era for Ireland. And that’s a new world which is going to take some getting used to.

From his precocious emergence, alongside Robbie Keane, as one of Brian Kerr’s colts, there was always something a little bit different and a little bit special about Damien Duff. Irish football has always prided itself on its group ethos, the notion that no one player transcends the collective. But, like Liam Brady down here and Georgie Best up there, Duff was one of those who gave most to the team by standing out from the rest.