Not even CR7 can stop the Shane Duffy Renaissance

Whether it be the might of Luxembourg or a little know chap from the island of Madeira called Cristiano Ronaldo, nobody has been able to stop Brighton & Hove Albion’s Renaissance Player of the Season Shane Duffy in the November international break.

Duffy and the Republic of Ireland navigated World Cup qualifiers against Portugal and Luxembourg unbeaten and although they missed out on next winter’s great sportswashing tournament in Qatar, it was a far cry to how they began the process back in March.

Cast your mind back eight months and you may remember a set of hilarious results for the Republic. They lost 1-0 at home to Luxembourg and then drew 1-1 with the might of Qatar. Even as recently as September, they failed to beat Azerbaijan at the giant greenhouse that is the Aviva Stadium.

Their disastrous form back in March mirrored that of Duffy, who was at the end of an inglorious loan spell at Celtic. Duffy’s dream move to Parkhead was meant to be a stroll towards a record-breaking 10th Scottish title for the Bhoys.

Instead, it turned into a nightmare as Rangers lifted the championship undefeated. Duffy meanwhile suffered horrific personal abuse from those same Celtic fans who had hailed him a homecoming hero, the boy from Derry finally living the dream of generations of his family in pulling on the green and white hoops.

Watching Duffy in the November 2021 international break was to see a completely different man. Two moments against Portugal stood out, both involving that Ronaldo chap.

There was the photo of Duffy winning a header against arguably the centre forward with the biggest leap and greatest aerial ability of any striker to have played the game – albeit with his hand around the throat of Ronaldo, like The Undertaker performing a choke slam.

Even better was Duffy doing a Cruyff Turn Gross Turn to escape the attentions of Ronaldo whilst basically the last man in the Republic defence.

It is easy to say that is what happens when you spend every day training with Herr Gross, but would Lewis Dunk have attempted such a daring move against a player like Ronaldo? Not so sure on that.

Duffy sending Ronaldo into another postcode with a Gross Turn is a sign of the confidence he is playing with right now. It is also an indication that perhaps his lack of ability as a ball playing centre back has been overplayed. You are not turning like that if you don’t have a bit of skill.

Most Brighton fans and pundits assumed that Shane Duffy was dropped by Graham Potter and shipped off to Scotland because he did not fit in with Potter’s demands for playing out from the back. And whilst Duffy is no Ben White or Adam Webster, he is not some complete donkey either.

Not even Potter seems to have completely grasped this yet. Shane Duffy was dropped for the visit of Manchester City to Brighton, based on doubts about how he would cope on the ball against a side who press as aggressively as Pep Guardiola’s billion petrodollar squad.

A lot of people agreed with Potter’s decision at the time but hindsight is a beautiful thing. The Albion were all over the place defensively in the opening 30 minutes, found themselves 3-0 down and the game was over before it had begun.

Duffy was restored to the starting XI a week later for the trip to Liverpool, another side who press. Brighton came away from Anfield with a point to show for their efforts after a 2-2 draw. Call it the Duffy effect?

It is not just at the back where he is making a difference this season. Brighton look much more threatening from attacking set pieces with the towering presence of Shane Duffy in the team.

He scored in the home win over Watford, earned the penalty from which Neal Maupay gave the Albion the lead against Leicester City in the league and claimed an assist for Webster’s goal at the King Power in the Carabao Cup.

The Republic of Ireland too have benefited. Duffy scored on his 50th international appearance against Luxembourg and has also registered goals this calendar year against Qatar and Azerbaijan. For a team like the Republic who struggle to put the ball in the back of the net, he is invaluable.

In many ways, going to Celtic and bombing there might be the best thing that could have happened to Duffy. Potter has touched on the fact that Duffy returned to Brighton with a new outlook and a new sense of purpose, no doubt helped by the fact that in his absence, Molly Malone’s had been closed down and the Grosvenor had undergone a rebrand.

There were mitigating factors for his performances at Celtic, of course. The loss of his father hit Duffy hard and one can only imagine the pressure he was putting himself under to succeed for himself, his dad and his family at the club he had supported as a boy – especially in a season where they were expected to make history with 10 in a row.

When he came back from the SPL, many assumed that Duffy would be shipped out to the Championship, either on loan or released on a free ala Maty Ryan, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and the rest of the big money earners Brighton let go for nothing to get them off the wage bill.

A reunion with Chris Hughton at Nottingham Forest seemed the obvious place for Duffy to try and salvage his career. And even when he was catapulted into the Albion starting XI for the opening day of the season at Burnley with Joel Veltman isolating and Dan Burn injured, it seemed like only a temporary reprieve.

Instead, Duffy is unbeaten in his last 13 appearances for club and country. He has been part of two defeats from 18 starts all season, Brighton 2-0 Everton at the end of August followed by an unfortunate last-gasp defeat away in Portugal four days later.

Duffy extracted his revenge when sticking Ronaldo in his pocket in the return match last week. The clean sheet recorded by King Shane and his Republic teammates leave Portugal’s World Cup qualification hopes hanging by a thread as they enter the lottery of the playoffs.

If the world is denied one final opportunity to see Ronaldo at a World Cup should his nation be eliminated, then Duffy will have played a major part in that. For someone routinely written off less than four months ago, that is quite the tale.

There ain’t nobody like Shane Duffy. Long may it continue.