We have the upper hand after first leg insists Shane Duffy

‘I can’t wait now to get back to the Aviva and have the place rocking. Bring it on’

Republic of Ireland’s Shane Duffy during the World Cup qualifying play-off first leg match at the Parken Stadium, Copenhagen. Photograph: PA

Shane Duffy admitted there is room for improvement when Ireland take to the field on Tuesday night but the defender was more than happy with the night's work he and his team mates produced here in Copenhagen. At half-time, he insists, it is Ireland who have the upper hand.

“It was a difficult night,” he admitted, “it wasn’t pretty but the job was to come here and not concede, not to do anything stupid. We got a clean sheet out of it and that’s a positive. It’s on to Tuesday now.

“If we can keep them out on their home patch we can do it on our home patch; they are a good team, a very good team and it was a very tough night but you could see their technical players struggled. It was a great performance defensively from the whole team, Darren made a couple of great saves but that’s it. They didn’t have much really.

“They will probably fancy their chances of scoring a goal in Dublin but we’ll be a different team at the Aviva. We don’t concede many goals and hopefully we don’t concede on Tuesday but we can be a bit better on the ball and we will create a lot more.

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“It’s a Cup final on Tuesday now. One game, one win and we’re at the World Cup so let’s go for it.”

Ireland will have David Meyler back from suspension for the game and everyone else available after the team came through here without picking up a single card.

“I saw James flying about and Harry flying about and I was wondering . . . ” said Duffy, “but you can’t let it play on your mind. I was ready to put my body wherever I had to. In the end, no one got booked so happy days. I can’t wait now to get back to the Aviva and have the place rocking. Bring it on.”

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone is Work Correspondent at The Irish Times