Duffy: Danes will expect a different Ireland

When, after just six minutes of the second leg of the World Cup play-off against Denmark in 2017, Shane Duffy used his height and his head to put Ireland a goal to the good, the eruption of joy on the pitch and in the stands of the Aviva Stadium suggested that what we’d just witnessed was one of those defining moments which the Derryman might find hard to top for the rest of his career.

Instead, as he or we hardly need reminding, it turned out to be the wholly misleading prelude to a brutally shocking jolt for Irish football, Duffy’s goal destined to become only a minor footnote on a night when Christian Eriksen went on to write all the headlines as the visitors romped to a 5-1 win.