Duffy and Clark have it covered
McCARTHY and Moran, McGrath and Babb, Breen and Staunton. Irish teams at World Cup finals have traditionally given little away at the back — in 13 games, only two opponents managed to score two goals, Mexico and Holland.
And the current central defensive partnership, Shane Duffy and Ciaran Clark, are forging an alliance shaped from iron.
Four clean sheets in the qualifiers, two in the last two games, this right-foot, left-foot combination is proving difficult to shift, which is a plus as the Viking longboats appear on the skyline.
‘Clarky’s been brilliant,’ said Duffy yesterday. ‘I really enjoy playing alongside him and it’s good to have someone who you are that comfortable with.
‘The partnership has been getting stronger from the first time we played together so the more it stays together, it’s only going to get better,’ added the Brighton defender. The mutual respect the two defenders have for each other is clear, as Clark confirmed.
‘We try and cover each other at all times. We expect someone to miss the ball and hopefully the other one is there to cover up if that does happen,’ said the Newcastle defender.
‘That’s what it’s about, being switched on, trying to prepare for the worst. To be fair to Duffer, he doesn’t miss too many, especially when it’s coming in the air.’
Ireland snuffed out Moldova and Wales in their last two qualifiers and Clark knows the importance of keeping that run going.
‘If you keep clean sheets you always give yourself a chance of winning games,’ he said.
Duffy revealed his concern for the playoffs when he ‘popped’ his groin playing for Brighton against Everton in the Premier League on October 15. ‘I was worried but I knew the next day when I woke up that it wasn’t bad. I had a scan and I just had a cyst in my groin. The injection helped it and it was alright,’ he said. Duffy, 25, has earned rave reviews for Brighton this season in the Premier League and his career graph has soared since a difficult time at Blackburn in August 2016. ‘If you look back at a year ago, it’s day and night really. I’ve been at the low parts and I’m just enjoying a little bit of success at the minute where everything is going well. I have to keep going. I can’t go back to that level,’ he said. While Duffy has been first choice for Brighton, Clark has lost his place at Newcastle, ironically after two outstanding games for Ireland last month. The unexpected demotion stung but Clarke can make a point to Rafa Benitez by helping to repel all Danish boarders on Saturday.
They include Nicklas Bendtner, who is known to Martin O’Neill and the Irish players from his time in English club football. Bendtner, who was jeered by Danish fans in the Euro 2016 play-off loss to Sweden, has re-invented himself at Rosenborg, where he scored 20 goals this summer. With doubts over Nicolai Jorgensen (wrist), Bendtner could be thrown in against the Duffy-Clark axis. It’s a plus that O’Neill will know what to expect from a player who scored six goals under him at Sunderland. ‘I had Nicklas on loan at Sunderland and when he turned up he was a very good player,’ said O’Neill. ‘Sometimes when you have a loan player you wonder whether his heart is really in it but Nicklas, he did fine for us, he had a lot of talent. ‘I think at some stage he might look back and realise that he hasn’t got everything out of the talent that he possessed.’