Shane Duffy is clearly desperate to win a place in Martin O’Neill’s Euro 2016 squad.
The Republic of Ireland defender’s excellent performance in last week’s friendly against Switzerland put him in the mix for a seat on the plane to France, but the Blackburn man still looks set to be outside the final 23.
John O’Shea, Ciaran Clark, Richard Keogh and Marc Wilson are all arguably ahead of Duffy in the pecking order, so perhaps it is no wonder the Derry man has perhaps come up with an alternative route into O’Neill’s squad.
With Rob Elliot ruled out with a knee injury and Shay Given seemingly set to remain second choice at Stoke even with the loss of Jack Butland, there could well be an opening for a goalkeeper to force his way to the finals.
There can surely be no other explanation for Duffy’s superb reflex stop during Blackburn’s Championship tie with Preston yesterday, which saw Duffy sent off as Rovers lost 2-1.
Still, Given and David Forde now have some extra competition to back up Darren Randolph.
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