Martin O’Neill changed his formation to have a look at the front two on Friday night but it ended up being the defensive duo that caught his eye.
If this friendly’s purpose was to sift through the Euro 2016 hopefuls (and its purpose definitely wasn’t to entertain) then Shane Duffy and Ciaran Clark can be very happy with their evening’s work.
Clark distanced himself from a woeful club season with Aston Villa to put down further roots in a central defensive position he filled admirably for both legs of the play-off win over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Strong, quick enough and decisive, Clark is beginning to look like an international defender. A defender with two international goals in 18 matches.
2: GOAL!
IRELAND 1-0 Switzerland.
Ciaran Clark heads home to give Ireland the perfect start. https://t.co/QLd4LaRUuj— eir Sport (@eirSport) March 25, 2016
The assist for his second minute winner went to his partner in defence, 24-year-old Duffy. Strong, quick enough and decisive, the Blackburn Rovers man brings a level of physicality somewhat lacking from a smaller than average Ireland team.
Their manager was certainly happy with what he saw. A lack of cohesion and confidence on the ball were the negatives but, when addressing the positives he dwelt on Clark and Duffy, two players he has kept an eye on.
“First of all I think that the two centre backs did very well indeed. Clark I would have known from my Villa days, young lad was captain of the youth team at that time, coming through.
“He has come on very strongly, he played brilliantly in the last two games of the qualification group for us and he has carried it on tonight,” said O’Neill of the 26 year old.
“His partner beside him, young Duffy I think did very well indeed,” he added.
“Shane did very well and that’s great. I took him to America with us a couple of years ago, when he was at Everton at the time but on loan at Yeovil. He showed a bit of promise there, now playing regularly with Blackburn has given him that wee bit of confidence. I thought he dealt with things very well tonight.”
If two centre halves putting up their hands for selection doesn’t cause O’Neill any headaches, it may be a concern to Alex Pearce, Richard Keogh, Paul McShane and even 34-year-old John O’Shea – who did not feature at all in Friday’s squad.
“Clark doesn’t give me any headaches whatsoever, I’m delighted with him and he has come on strongly here, regardless of what has happened at club level. That is very encouraging. I think he has left trials and tribulations at club level behind him,” said O’Neill.
“It’s nice to see young Duffy do well tonight and take the game in his stride. Whatever you say about it, from Championship football to international level against a side who have qualified and have come on very strongly in their group after a slow start, that will give him a big boost.”
In the end it was Duffy and Clark who combined for the goal, after O’Neill abandoned his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation in order to reunite the former Reading pairing of Kevin Doyle and Shane Long.
“I wanted to start the game with both Kevin and Shane and the way to start it was for the two of them to play off each other, as they have done before.
“I knew then that it would leave us a little bit short numerically in the middle of the field and that definitely caused us a problem when we didn’t have the ball.”
If O’Neill’s options are plentiful at the back, he does look a little strapped up front. Doyle is certainly out of Tuesday’s clash with Slovakia after Timm Klose went close to the bone. Daryl Murphy has a tight calf, Jon Walters flew home to the UK but will return for Tuesday, while Robbie Keane is also out with a worrying knee injury.
“If Robbie Keane was 27 he starts in our team and he is our best goal scorer too, which he has proved. He is very much in my thoughts here,” said O’Neill, who will look to build from the back on solid foundations.
