'If a bus was coming at Shane Duffy he'd try to get his head on it'

It’s not often that the great minds of the Irish management team and the Irish media think alike but such was the case this week when we asked Roy Keane for his thoughts on how Shane Duffy has progressed to the point where he is now widely regarded as the rock of the Irish defence and one of the most consistent centre-halves in the Premier League.

“It’s strange, we were just talking about it there with the manager watching the training, about how well he has done over the last few years,” Keane replied.

“I think I saw Shane three or four years ago when he was on loan at Yeovil, playing against Brighton. The fact he is playing most weeks in the Premiership now would be a huge help to him. He will improve but he has done really well considering where he was three years ago.