It doesn’t matter that Shane Duffy got sent off. It doesn’t matter that he got sucked out of position for France’s second goal. It doesn’t matter.
The Blackburn defender has a mistake in him yet. He’s young and learning and only after enjoying his first real run of a full season.
Ciaran Clark and John O’Shea have mistakes in them too. Duffy is younger and, honestly, it’s hard to argue that he’s not better.
He saved two certain goals in that inspirational opening 45 minutes when he got up and stretched all 6 foot 4 of that brick-like Derry product to divert one away from Giroud’s opening net and then when he hurled himself in front of Antoine Griezmann’s strike in the box and took one in the chest as if a bullet hadn’t penetrated his vest.
There was a period in the first half when it looked like he was going to have to come off. He was hobbling pretty badly and seemed to be cursing his luck to the skies as he tried and failed to run it off. He went down, he got up, he went down, he got up again. Martin O’Neill was a nervous wreck trying to get information on his fitness out of him but then a ball came in the direction of Giroud and Duffy just flung himself in the road again and thumped one clear.
He went down one more time but there was no way he was coming off. That just wasn’t an option.
Duffy earned plenty of plaudits again for his performance, this time against the French. The red card he took in the 66th minute? That seemed necessary in a lot of eyes. The big centre half wasn’t looking for an excuse though.
“I tried to make a challenge for the ball,” you could see it was still hurting him as he spoke after the game. “It’s difficult because, if I leave it, they score; if I foul him… I don’t know. It was difficult for me.”
It’s not easy seeing a player suffering when they’ve contributed so much. It’s not nice watching them mourn the past when there’s so much ahead of them.
Duffy is only 24 years of age. He’s played just five times for his country and already he looks like he’s part of the furniture.
“I felt comfortable out there,” he said. “I felt like I could play at this level. I feel like I’ve done alright, obviously the red card hasn’t helped me.
“It’s been a great experience for me. To come in so late and play a part is special.
“The Italian game was special. To even be here – it was such a big game [against France] on the world stage – and to play a part in it… it was disappointing in the second half how it finished for me but I’ll take positives out of it.
“I’ll hold my head up high, learn from my mistakes and try to do better next time.”
Only a year ago, Ireland had declared crisis on football.
There were supposed to be no players out there and none coming through and, suddenly, there they were, 32 minutes from being the most successful side in the history of the country.
It seems that, when we can’t see who the next teenage sensation is, there’s a nationwide state of panic but it’s rarely been like that for Ireland. There’s rarely been a 19-year-old coming that you just know is going to be the real deal.
Rather, the Republic have relied on being patient and waiting for the finished products – or at least something close to that – to emerge. This country’s success is when players hit 22 and 23 and start looking like they can make things happen on the international stage.
Now, in a World Cup group that has pitted the national team with Wales, Austria and Serbia, there’s the core of a really good outfit there going forward – for at least the next two years. The midfield three on Sunday of Brady, McCarthy and Hendrick are proving to be an excellent trio – their ages are 24, 25, 24.
Duffy is 24. Clark is 26. Keogh is 29.
Coleman, 27. McClean, 26. And, if you can get the like of Callum O’Dowda and maybe Jack Byrne pushing and putting pressure for those two attacking wide positions, you’d not only have options but you could move Shane Long centrally again and get the most out of him.
You’d have a lovely team there all peaking again.Ireland don’t need teenagers showing promise. They need 20-somethings showing they’re ready.
They need men like Shane Duffy bursting onto the scene and grabbing their chances with both hands. They need men like Shane Duffy leading the team.
God knows he’s going to be leading his country for a while with all that animalistic aggression and relentless vocals that he brings to the side.
God knows he’s going to be a leader for a long time to come if this was only his fifth international cap.
