Shane Duffy: ‘I had to sit down and have a word with myself’

Shane Duffy. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

For all the feelgood factor generated by young players populating the Ireland squad in 2021, the second coming of Shane Duffy has been a storyline worthy of distinction.

To watch the centre back execute another masterclass in defending on Saturday would present an impression of a player whose career path has been linear.

Yet Duffy admits he was in freefall earlier this year, crashing from the status of Premier League goal scorer against Manchester United to somebody unsure if he’d be permanently cast aside from the top table.

His status at Brighton & Hove Albion was uncertain, while his role as Ireland mainstay had been removed for the start of the World Cup qualifying campaign in Serbia.

It was the first time since 2016, when he arrived as a bolter at the Euros, that Duffy was dropped.

“A blind man could have seen that I was nowhere near where I had been, so it was the right decision, which I accepted,” he said of losing his place in Belgrade.

Serious conversations had to be had, none more vital than with himself.

“I went away in the break and got my head down, hit the reset button and went from there,” said the Derryman, who turns 30 in January.

“It’s difficult to say if it was my last chance. I had to sit down and have a word with myself or else it was going to fade away.

“There are so many footballers that get left behind if they’re not at it. I had that feeling where I was not playing at club or international level. Younger and better players come through and you just get moved on.

“So, I said to myself ‘listen, you have just got to put your head down and show that I can still have a worth to this teams’. I’m getting to the later end of my career, so I wanted to give it a big crack and see where it took me.

“That is what I’ve done, so hopefully I can repay the managers for picking me.”

Graham Potter and Stephen Kenny have praised the strength Duffy summoned to regain his starting berths. Brighton could offer the defender a homecoming haven from a forgettable loan spell at Celtic in May, but no guarantee of being in their plans for the new season.

After a year to forget, triggered by the sudden death of his father, all Duffy sought was an opportunity. That he wasn’t jettisoned entirely by either manager was sufficient.

“If I’m being honest, I didn’t think that I could [get back into the Brighton team],” he confessed. “But the character that I am, unless someone throws me out the door, then I’ll never give up.

“The manager still had me in the building, enough to prove that I had changed. I would do anything that he wanted me to do.

“Stephen still brought me into the squad to be around the lads to help if I could, even though I was not playing.”

Now he’s playing every minute for club and country. All seven of the Premier League games that have taken Brighton into sixth place featured Duffy from start to finish, mirroring his revival for Ireland.

His fifth international goal — the late equaliser against Azerbaijan — repaid the faith shown in him by Kenny.

Another point against Serbia, a precursor to Saturday’s first win of the campaign away to Azeris, has altered the mood music around this Ireland team.

“Everyone with eyes can see the progression we’re making. I know we haven’t been getting the results, but you can see we’re trying to play the right football. We’re getting there.”