Celtic centre-back Shane Duffy has now produced two performances of the highest quality to down Scottish football’s critics.
Playing alongside Premier League regulars such as Jeff Hendrick, Matt Doherty, and Shane Long – Ireland centre-back Duffy proved the star of the show against Wales yesterday in a 0-0 draw.
Indeed, the Nations League contest at the Aviva Stadium saw Duffy given the highest rating of any player on the pitch by stat-tracking website WhoScored.
The stat experts gave him a 7.12/10, along with the highest passing percentage of any of the Ireland starting XI on the day with 88.9%. In addition to that, he managed an impressive four interceptions, three blocks, and three clearances.
That followed another massively impressive display in Slovakia, when he also managed to keep a clean sheet in Ireland’s Euro 2020 semi-final playoff away from home. It may have ended in heartbreaking fashion in a penalty shootout, but that was hardly the Celtic man’s fault.
Duffy starred against Slovakia too
Duffy was again ranked as the best player in Stephen Kenny’s side last Thursday – bagging an even more impressive score of 7.89/10 by WhoScored. He secured six clearances, one interception and three successful challenges in another productive evening.
This was clearly acknowledged by the Irish official Twitter account too, who highlighted the Celtic man’s display in their posts:
Duffy, the Ireland captain for both games, ensured that his side kept back-to-back clean sheets. He kept the likes of Harry Wilson, Marik Hamsik, and Aaron Ramsey quiet in what was a slap in the face to those who disregard the quality of Scottish football.
Speaking to Off the Ball last month, former Ireland defender Gary Breen stated that going to Celtic could lead to Duffy picking up some “bad habits”. He was also concerned about the level of quality he would come up against, and that it could be a concern for Ireland moving forward.
However, that’s proven to be total nonsense after Duffy’s last two outings. He was Ireland’s best player on both occasions, and in turn has done Scottish football and Celtic a real service.
The last thing we needed was for him to suddenly put in a couple of poor displays a month after moving to Parkhead on loan from Brighton. The fact he even improved on his displays against Bulgaria and Finland last month is a massive shot in the arm for the Hoops.
He’ll be hoping to get a win under his belt on Wednesday when Ireland travel to Finland, but so long as he comes back safe and sound for the Rangers game then that’s all that matters.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
