Shane Duffy appears ready to try and prove his Celtic doubters wrong as he looks to turn around his season from hell.
Duffy arrived in Glasgow on loan from Brighton back in early September. At the time, it looked a coup given he had been a regular in the English Premier League last term. In addition to that, he was the current Republic of Ireland captain and had a reputation for being dominant and able to deal with powerful centre-forwards.
The reality this season couldn’t have been more different. As Celtic’s 10-in-a-row dreams fade, Duffy has played a huge part. With 27 Hoops appearances to his name, you’ll do well to find a handful of good ones. A string of basic errors had led the Irishman becoming a joke figure in the eyes of rival fans, and far from impressive with regards to the Celtic support.
Even so, he’s backing himself to come through what he’s called a “sticky patch”. Speaking on Everton podcast Bred a Blue, Duffy said the following:
“If you asked me 10 years ago I probably wouldn’t have believed the career I’ve gone on and had. I’m proud of myself for digging in there, especially when a lot of people doubt you.
“The satisfaction of going to prove people wrong is good so I’m happy, I still feel I have a lot more in me to go and prove people wrong again.
“I’ve had a bit of a sticky patch at the minute which happens a lot of footballers. I feel I have the right mentality to get through it and as I said, I want to prove people wrong again and go and kick on again.”
Great attitude from Shane Duffy; but is it too late to show up Celtic doubters?
You can’t whack Duffy’s attitude. If we take the focus away from his on-field performances this season, it’s important to remember the mental strain. Just think of his situation. A boyhood Celtic fan coming up to try and lead us to the 10. For the season to turn out the way it has for him simply can’t be easy.
However, conversations about proving doubters wrong just doesn’t get you going anymore. The only way Duffy was going to be able to show all of his critics up was by being dominant and helping us win the league title. He hasn’t been able to do that.
Shane was impressive enough in the 2-1 win against St Johnstone on Sunday. Credit to him for that performance – it was one he could be pleased with. But in reality, it all means next to nothing now.
Even if Duffy performs well for the remaining 10 games of the season, it isn’t enough. People will still be critical of his performances at key stages during the campaign, along with his team-mates. In other words, it’s simply too late for this kind of talk now.
There is no recovering from this. If Duffy was going to hit the reser button and turn in some form, it had to come in either November or December at the latest. Potentially even the beginning of January after the Ibrox defeat. Waiting until mid-February to try and turn things around does nothing for supporters.
Hopefully, he does end the season strongly of course. We all want to see Celtic win some more games and provide us with a few smiles before the campaign is out. But not even another 10 consecutive wins will lift the gloom of this year’s catastrophe.
In other news, 67HH writer Euan Davidson discusses why yesterday’s interim report figures aren’t as disastrous as some may think.
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