A sick troll who taunted Celtic defender Shane Duffy has outrageously tried to justify his actions - claiming he only wanted to get a reaction.
The Ireland captain shared screenshots of horrific abuse sent to him by a user following the 1-0 defeat to Ross County on Sunday night.
The vile troll called the centre-back a "fenian b******" and also sent a sick message about Duffy's late dad, who passed away last year.
The abuse was sent to Duffy after Celtic's 1-0 loss which left them 18 points adrift in the Premiership title race.
Sharing a screenshot of the messages on Instagram, the defender said: "There's abuse which is fine but surely there's a limit nah."
One of the sick messages read: "Yous are s*** you fenian ugly b******."
Another said: "Ur f***ing s**** u c***."
The final message was a disgusting taunt about Duffy's dad Brian, who passed away at the age of just 53 last May.
Duffy described his father as his 'hero' and 'idol' in an emotional tribute following Brian's death.
And the Instagram user outrageously tried to justify what he'd said before locking his account.
The troll wrote: "Just to say everything I said to him was to see if he would actually reply.
"I was only going to see if I could get a reaction from Shane Duffy himself.
"It didn't but now I shouldn't of (sic) brought that up."
