We won’t slip up this time, insists Duffy
SHANE DUFFY has acknowledged he owes Moldova one as the Republic of Ireland seek a goal-rush against the whipping boys of Group D on Friday.
It was Duffy’s lapse of concentration in chilly Chisenau last October which allowed Moldova to plunder an equaliser on the stroke of a first half which Ireland controlled.
‘They try and hit you on the counter-attack and they caught us (in Chisenau) on a mistake from myself,’ admitted the giant Brighton defender on FAI TV.
‘We can’t let that happen this time. We have to dominate.
‘We’ve seen upsets in football. We knew out there (Moldova) it would be difficult. We’ve got to start well, deal with the game and hopefully have a big game to come on Monday.’
Duffy was as down as anyone about the September slip-up which saw Ireland take one point out of six.
Yet, he played his part, with the lead goal in Tbilisi before having another one ruled out for offside against Serbia in Dublin.
‘It was probably the only positive from the game personally, to get off the mark, so I was delighted from that point, but it was one of our most disappointing performances in campaign,’ he said of the Georgia game.
Ireland are up against it now as they chase a place at the World Cup finals for the first time since 2002 but Duffy knows the poor results of 2017 so far will be forgotten if they can somehow execute a qualifying coup.
‘It would be great for the country to get back there (the finals). The atmosphere in France (Euro finals) was unbelievable.
‘We’ve performed well until the last couple of games. If we get there (Russia) I don’t think there would be many complaints.
‘We know how big this game is Friday night. We had the atmosphere against the Germanys and Bosnia, and hope to have it again against Moldova.’ Duffy, 25, has emerged as a pillar of the team under Martin O’Neill, having waited patiently for his call to arms after declaring for Ireland in 2010. ‘The past year has seen a lot of highs and lows in between, it’s been a great learning curve.’ Duffy was booked for Brighton during their 2-0 defeat at Arsenal yesterday and will need to be wary of not over-stepping the mark on Friday. Along with Cyrus Christie, Stephen Ward, Aiden McGeady and David Meyler, he is a yellow card away from missing the Cardiff finale on Monday next — he missed the Wales visit to Dublin in March because of suspension.
Ahead of training in Dublin this afternoon, the Irish squad officially has 31 players standing, two of whom, Robbie Brady and James McClean, are suspended for Friday’s qualifier.
With James McCarthy ringrusty, and both Keiren Westwood (rib) and Harry Arter (Achilles) missing for their clubs this weekend, O’Neill has a further concern over David McGoldrick who tweaked a hamstring on club duty for Ipswich on Saturday.
McGoldrick has hardly been available to O’Neill during the campaign and it seems his injury curse has struck again.
The injury situation could leave O’Neill with 24 fit players, which include the uncapped attacking trio of Scott Hogan, Sean Maguire and Aidan O’Brien.