Dedicated Duffy reaps rewards of hard work

Shane Duffy is living proof that hard work and dedication can still overcome adversity in football.

The Republic of Ireland defender will run out against Denmark in the Nations League tomorrow evening as an established member of Martin O’neill’s strongest team and having last week signed a new five-year deal with club Brighton.

That is the 26-year-old’s reward for a refusal to accept the setbacks which came his way earlier in his career after a dream move toevertonasateenagerdid not work out in the way he might have hoped.

Duffy said: “You have just got to have that mentality of not giving up. I had it tough early on in my career, where it was going from high to low and I didn’t really know where I was going. But I just stuck at it and luckily enough, I found a club where they believed in me and they gave me the chance to play at the top level.”

Duffy was handed a senior debut for his country in a 1-1 friendly draw with Costa Rica in Philadelphia in June 2014, some four years after undergoing lifesaving surgery on his ruptured liver following a collision while training with the Irish squad.

He has since played his part in Brighton’s rise to the Premier League and the Republic’s qualification for and creditable participation in the Euro 2016 finals.

Ireland now face a reunion with a Danish side which denied them a trip to this summer’s World Cup finals with a brutal 5-1 play-off second leg victory in Dublin in November.

That, coupled with a bruising 4-1 defeat in Wales last month, has left Duffy and his team-mates looking to go back to basics.

The defender, who scored the opening goal against the Danes, said: “Maybe it is about getting back to basics and doing what we’re good at, rather than doing something we’re not really used to, so we have to go back, believe and trust the lads, and hopefully we will get back to keeping clean sheets.”