Ireland’s Shane Duffy: I’ve learned from difficult summer

Brighton defender Shane Duffy says that he believes the tough times he endured in France and at the start of this Championship season will stand to him and he aims to better establish himself as an international defender.

“It’s been tough alright,” he said after Ireland’s training session in Abbotstown today. “I was really proud in the summer, to be in the squad and then to play but then there was the sending off in the France game, which was tough to take, and things continued like that at the start of the season.

“Obviously I didn’t want anything like that to happen but I made a couple of mistakes and I didn’t deal with it all as well as I could have. But I’m a young centre half and I’m going to make mistakes. I’m trying to put the ones I have made behind me and keep learning, improving all the time.

“It’s been good in that I’ve learned a lot from it. It was hard at the time and when I should have been concentrating I was going through the motions but I believe I’m going to be stronger for it all. It was tough going at the time but I believe I’m stronger now. I feel good and strong now.”

Martin O’Neill sounded impressed on Monday with the defender’s recent form at Brighton and the young Derry player is hoping that he can become a bit more of a regular for the manager over the course of the coming months.

“I’ve had a few games but I’m not established. I didn’t play at all in the last campaign but I ended up playing in France. Ideally, I’d like to think I’ve shown him that he can throw me in now; I want to get in more in this campaign.”