Ya in fairness, maybe Duffy is happier with NI, and always will be whether thats in 5 or 10 years. I spose if he is as happy with both at the end of the day it will come down to who has been more successful during his player years.
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Ya in fairness, maybe Duffy is happier with NI, and always will be whether thats in 5 or 10 years. I spose if he is as happy with both at the end of the day it will come down to who has been more successful during his player years.
Obviously the temptation of a full call up to play against the Italians was too big a prize to turn down for any 17 year old kid, and good luck to the lad, especially as he has so little experience of reserve team football, never mind playing against an Italian side.
It would be interesting to hear what Sean McCaffrey and his team thought about Duffy when he attended an Ireland training camp last June.
I suppose it also dispels the myth that FIFA’s ruling on the eligibility of lads from the North playing for Ireland was going to cause some kind of religious segregation of players, with players from one community opting to play for one team and the others opting to play for the other team (as claimed by Unionist politicians and the IFA at the time).
Players will naturally make decisions based on what they think will help them in their future careers and Duffy has done that, just as his former teammate from Foyle Harps Patrick McEleney has decided to represent Ireland at international level, along with other Derry lads like David McDaid & Seamus sharkey.
It was always about choice and hopefully the hardliners will ‘wind their necks in’ and accept this in the future.
According to an article in the Belfast Telegraph, Duffy could be in line to start against Italy due to Craig Cathcart's withdrawal! For a 17 year old who has never played at senior level (except reserve and 'B' internationals), this is a big, big ask.
- Belfast Telegraph, 'Italians will go with rookies against Northern Ireland'Quote:
And with so many players unavailable Worthington isn’t planning on delving deeper into a limited pool of players for a replacement, leaving him with just four defenders, in the shape of the unattached Chris Casement, Crusaders Colin Coates, Everton teenager Shane Duffy and Manchester City reserve Ryan McGivern
Nigel Worthington has also openly stated the reason that he called Duffy up was an attempt to quell any interest from the Republic too. Damn him!!!
Daily Mirror, 'Duffy's on board for Nigel' 22.05.09Quote:
When I heard [of the Republic of Ireland's interest] I made sure I brought Shane into our Milk cup squad last summer. I wanted to get to know him, work with him and encourage him...He's a very talented player and I'm delighted to have him in this squad. He is only 17, but he is coming along very nicely at Everton.
There are some very good established Italian players in that squad too. It will be interesting to see how the young Derry man will cope.
He didn't figure in the match against Italy today, so technically he is still eligible for us.
Slightly surprising, as all the other U-21 guys got on as subs. We'll take the 3-0 beating overall :p
If he wasn't interested, why would he attend a training camp when invited? The way I see it is that he doesn't seem to have been offered opportunities from the FAI management teams, whereas he has been propelled through the ranks by the IFA management teams. Like I've said before, a career in football is a precarious one and perennially on the edge of doubt, so young footballers have to take their opportunities when they come to them - that appears to be what Duffy is doing. I still hope that he will perhaps be offered the opportunity to play for the Republic, but I won't fault him for his pragmatism; it shows a degree of maturity I believe.
Yeah, exactly and even at that, from the minutes I caught after the Ireland game, N.I. weren't exactly playing good football - they were clearly outclassed. The aesthetically pleasing football came from Italy, who seemed to be taking the p1ss at stages. Nevertheless, it seems that 3-0 is a respectable result considering the strength of the team.
Here's an article from the RTÉ website: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2009/0607/nireland.html
He clearly holds him in high regardQuote:
Only Everton's Shane Duffy did not take to the field in the Arena Garibaldi last night due to an agreement Worthington struck with Lippi before the game that only six substitutes would be used.
'I would have liked to have given him a little bit,' admitted Worthington.
'It's unfortunate because he was first class.
'I had a word with him and, even though he did not play, he has had a great season and played with the Under-19s.'
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that FIFA mandated that only 6 substitutes could be used in a friendly anyways?
This rule came into effect in 2004; has it changed since?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/3509153.stm
I think both teams can use more if they both agree before the game.
Then why was this so controversial:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...d-Cup-bid.html
One of our guys who was at the match posted the following on OWC:
"His [Shane's] dad was on our flight home, think he said that Duffy has been called up 'early' at every level in order to get him experience. I don't know how many subs they had agreed to make but if there was a limit then Duffy at 17 was most likely to miss out. He's young enough, hopefully he'll get a cap or two soon enough.
His dad was well impressed by our supporters too!"
I guess it's all to do with context.
Basically, this was Italy's "B" team versus NI's "C" team - and we have barely a "B" team of our own! Coming into this game, NW might have picked a few reasonably experienced players whom for various reasons, he has overlooked before. Instead he took a gamble on bypassing them and opting to promote our youngsters.
As such, it was (almost literally) men against boys. We had eight of our starting XI making their first starts for NI. And when you count the subs, I think we had the same number winning their first ever cap. Our starting keeper (who had a blinder, btw, inc saving a penalty), was Tuffey, a 22 year old playing in the Scottish 1st Division, who was replaced by Mannus of Linfield with half an hour left.
We had a 28 year old Coleraine player (Carson) and a 22 year old Crues player (Coates) amongs the starters - they had never even been near a cap before now (unless you count Coates being a block booker, who before now went to games as a fan!).
Amongst our subs who came on was a Newcastle Academy youngster (Ferguson) who I don't think has even played for the Toon's Reserves, never mind their first team. Another was teenager James Lawrie, who has made a princely 8 starts for Port Vale.
Starting in midfield was teenager Corry Evans, who has been unused sub for MU on one occasion - the last game of the season against Hull (i.e. before the CL final v Barcelona). He was being marked by Rino Gattuso of Juventus, who has 50-odd Italy caps and a CL winners medal.
Our most experienced starter, Healy, went off injured in the first half, so NW moved Andy Little forward from midfield to replace him; teenager Little has, I think, one senior start for Rangers.
In the end, I was cautiously optimistic that we might avoid a complete drubbing (7 or 8 goals?), but that was only because once they've gone a goal or two ahead, it simply isn't Italy's style in friendlies to "fill their boots". However, I was concerned they might treat it as an exhibition match/training exercise, and start taking the p1ss out of our players.
Instead and to their credit, they took us seriously, not least because several of their fringe players treated it as an opportunity to impress Lippi. This was reflected in the report (in English) in the Gazzetta Dello Sport:
http://english.gazzetta.it/Football/...99398726.shtml
Consequently, whilst man-for-man Italy were always vastly superior to us, nonetheless we acquitted ourselves well, I'd say, since we never lost our shape or gave up trying.
P.S. Re the draw in Bari, I didn't see the game, but it seemed a great result to me.
I don't think the controversy was over the actual number of subs used; it appears a FIFA dispensation may be available for extra subs and even if it isn't obtained, it merely means the match loses official recognition - hardly the most severe of "punishments"
Rather I think the controversy was that England were only out in T&T for a one-off friendly to suck up to Jack Warner (head of T&T FA) in the quest for votes in their 2018 World Cup bid. (A visit by England is a real money-spinner, not that the receipts always find their way into the coffers of the T&T FA, apparently: http://www.sundayherald.com/sport/sh...nt_do_that.php )
Anyhow, Warner assured England that he had sorted out permission for both teams to use extra subs, but when FIFA heard this, they denied it. Therefore, the "controversy" was actually the embarrassment caused to Warner, not the 7th substitution itself.
Players will naturally make decisions based on what they think will help them in their future careers and Duffy has done that, just as his former teammate from Foyle Harps Patrick McEleney has decided to represent Ireland at international level, along with other Derry lads like David McDaid & Seamus sharkey.
It was always about choice and hopefully the hardliners will ‘wind their necks in’ and accept this in the future.[/QUOTE]
Sharkey is not from Derry he is just part of their sqaud. He is from Donegal, he may have been born in Isle of Man. He is not making much progress anyhow.
I've seen a couple of our other U-21 games this term. The team looked good both against Germany in the last qualifier (0-3) and in a comfortable win over the Scots. The coach, Beaglehole is doing a good job and getting support from Worthington: he clearly takes the junior sides seriously, whereas Sanchez, McIlroy etc. didn't fully.
Possibly because we weren't playing 10 men for 87 minutes? ;)
At one point BBC commentator Mark Bright suggested that "the Crusaders lad should get tighter to his man". Coates took the advice and with his next touch sent both ball and opponent 30m upfield :)