Goal hungry Duffy aiming to shoot down the Danes
EOIN HAND used to tell a great yarn about David O’Leary and the myth of goal-scoring central defenders.
And, depending on your point of view, it probably says more about David O’Leary’s opinion of himself than Hand’s opinion of central defenders.
Hand remembers settling down to watch Arsenal on the The Big Match on a Sunday afternoon and chuckling to himself as Brian Moore delivered a ritual, solemn declaration before every Arsenal corner.
“And here come the big men now, up from the back, a real goal-scoring threat for Arsenal!”
“But here’s the thing!” Hand would laugh. “Arsenal would have a good few corners a game, say even just five on average.
“O’Leary would go up for every single one. He played over 550 games for Arsenal. That’s over 2,500 chances. And how many goals did he score? Eleven!”
So when Shane Duffy tells us this week he wants to score more goals, the natural temptation might be to scoff and issue a gentle reminder to mind his own house first before he tries to burgle someone else’s.
Then again, perhaps not. He’s only played a third of the amount of internationals as O’Leary (21/68) yet he has already scored twice as many goals in green.
“I feel like I can score in every game,” he said. “I feel like I’m a threat at set-pieces in the box.
“I know centre-halves don’t normally speak like that, but I do. Every time we get a corner, I feel I can score.
“But it’s up to me to work hard and try to score more goals. It’s obviously not the most important thing that I have to worry about, that’s my defending and keeping clean sheets. But it’s always a nice bonus if you can help the team by scoring.”
Of the available strikers at Ireland’s disposal this week, Shane Long, Callum Robinson, Sean Maguire, Aiden O’Brien and Scott Hogan have shared just 18 goals between them. Oh, and 17 of those belong to Long.
The Republic relying on Storm Callum to bail them out could be quite a stretch. Which is where Duffy comes in against Denmark.
“I don’t feel more pressure, I just feel the same pressure every game. I want to score for the team I’m playing for,” he added.
“Obviously there’s more pressure because it’s your country, but if I get a chance on Saturday I feel like I could score again.”
Duffy’s two goals this term — against Manchester United and Southampton — have already compensated for his blank canvas for Chris Hughton’s team during their maiden campaign in the top-flight last term.
“Yeah, it was a massive disappointment last year that I didn’t score a goal.
“I sort of aim for at least a few goals a season and I didn’t score last year, which was disappointing for the number of attempts I had.”
Duffy’s form with Brighton was recently rewarded with a five-year contract; the consistent central defensive pairing with Lewis Dunk reflected in the latter’s call-up for England.
Another illustration that players with moderate starts, if properly nurtured, can thrive at a higher level, a lesson not always absorbed by Duffy’s Ireland.
For a brief few moments last year, it seemed like Ireland could re-establish that critical connection but, after Duffy had once more indicated his goal-scoring touch in the second-leg of the World Cup play-off against Denmark, the house of cards came crashing down.
“They got to the World Cup and we didn’t and over the two legs they deserved it because they beat us. It’s up to us now, we’ve got to play them again.
“I’m looking forward to getting the chance to play and hopefully put it right.
Asked how Ireland can reverse their fortunes, his answer — “Sure, we’ve done it before” — also includes the word “hope”.
You prod him in the anticipation that there’s more than mere hope after last month’s chaos.
“It’s more you guys sort of blowing the thing up,” he said. “We try to put performances in and try to win.” U21 INTERNATIONAL: Ronan Hale’s second-half strike was not enough as the Republic of Ireland’s hopes of reaching the 2019 European Under-21s Championship finals were ended with a 3-1 defeat in Israel.
Noel King’s men went into their penultimate Group 5 qualifier in Akko needing a victory ahead of their trip to face leaders Germany next Tuesday.
But they were beaten by Israel despite Derry City’s Hale dragging them back into the game with a well-taken 64th-minute equaliser.
Midfielder Gavriel Kanichowsky had fired the home side into a 15th-minute lead.
Maxim Plakushchenko’s cross eluded everyone and dropped in for Israel to regain the lead in the 77th minute and Yonatan Cohen wrapped up victory in stoppage time.