IF Neil Lennon had been forced to turn to Shane Duffy last season after losing three experienced defenders before a must-win fixture for Celtic there would only have been one possible outcome.
The centre half had a horrendous time at Parkhead after joining his boyhood heroes on a season-long loan from Brighton and ended up being dropped from the first team in February following a string of poor performances.
The 30-year-old, who lost his father shortly before he moved to Glasgow, has put the difficult spell behind him to a degree during the 2021/22 campaign.
However, he lost his place at the Amex Stadium back in March and failed to regain it.
Is Duffy capable of leading his injury-ravaged country to a Nations League victory over Scotland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin tonight and easing the pressure on Stephen Kenny in the wake of back-to-back defeats to Armenia and Ukraine?
Kenny, the former Dunfermline manager whose job will come under threat if his team suffer another reverse this evening, is without Seamus Coleman, Matt Doherty and John Egan and is very much hoping that his vice-captain can.
“It has been well documented that Shane had a difficult time in Scotland,” he said at the pre-match press conference FAI headquarters on the outskirts of Dublin yesterday. “There were a lot of reasons for that.
"This season he had a very good spell in the Premier League with Brighton. But since March he lost his place so it has been a difficult one for him again. The dilemma then is whether to pick someone who is not playing. He had played an amount of games between January and March but not since March.
“I thought he played very well against the Ukraine the other night and he can take confidence from that. I know playing for Ireland means everything to him so I am sure he is just focused on performing well tomorrow and trying to make sure we can keep a clean sheet."
The issue for Kenny has been more up front than at the back in the Nations League; the Republic of Ireland failed to net in their opening Group B1 matches against Armenia away last Saturday and Ukraine at home on Wednesday and sit bottom of the table as a result. But their manager is not overly concerned about their lack of ruthlessness in the final third.
“We had a good run where from March to March we scored 23 goals, which is a really high amount for an international team,” he said: “Then we have come up in the last two games and come up short in front of goal.
“It doesn’t mean everything is wrong, it just means we haven’t capitalised on the opportunities that we’ve been given. We have to improve in that regard and we have to make sure we all work hard and believe in what we are doing and hit the back of the net.”
If the Republic of Ireland fail to do that and lose to their Celtic cousins today then unrest in the stands will grow and he will face calls to be sacked from the position he was appointed to back in 2020.
However, the 50-year-old insisted he was not feeling any heat yesterday and revealed that the lessons that he learned during his stint in charge of Dunfermline between 2006 and 2007 are proving invaluable.
He was unable to prevent the East End Park club from being relegated from the Premier League during his time in Fife and ended up being sacked after a run of bad results in the First Division. But he led them through to the Scottish Cup final where they were beaten 1-0 by Celtic.
“When I took the job I was 34 years of age,” he said. “I was only there a week and we were 10 points adrift at the bottom. I took it on the basis of being five points adrift at the bottom and we were 10.
“We beat Rangers, Hearts, Hibs, and Patrick Thistle. We took on all of Edinburgh and Glasgow to get to the final and lost a narrow game to Celtic. It was a great experience. I made mistakes. I definitely did. But I learned a lot. That was part of my learning as a manager and it was a good experience.”
The strain that Kenny is feeling just now was apparent when, after he had referred to his side’s xG (expected goals) as he was trying to defend their recent performances, he bristled at suggestions that he had “thrown out stats”.
Asked if he was still sure that he is the right man to take Ireland forward having won just two competitive games out of 17, he said: “Absolutely I do, yeah. Without a shadow of a doubt. I've just a signed a new contract and I'm committed here until after the Euros.
“We've got an awful lot of potential in this squad, an awful lot of potential, we are looking to grow and get better and improve and at the moment we are just getting ready for tomorrow's game and making sure we are right.”
Kenny is optimistic the Ireland fans in the sell-out 50,000-strong crowd at the Aviva Stadium this evening can make a difference for his team against opponents who he admires and respects greatly despite their unhappiness at recent results.
“We were unbeaten in eight before last week and they (Scotland) were also unbeaten in eight,” he said. “They’ve probably had more significant wins that we've had. They have been together longer, they have qualified for the Euros and they have a lot of players playing at the top end of the Premier League. They have a very experienced squad.
“But from our point of view, that doesn't matter. We have a full house, this is our home, the Aviva Stadium, and we want to perform and play to the best of our ability and give them something to be proud of.
“I think every game of football is must-win. I don't see how you would go into a game without that mentality. Every game I play I want to win. When you go in with that mentality, you play your best football. We know we've got a job to do and that's go out and win a game of football.”
