Stephen Kenny has no concerns over Shane Duffy ahead of a spell of three international matches in a week.
The defender has had a rough ride at Celtic with the dream move at the start of September turning into something very different as the hoops stumble for form with Duffy failing to make the impact anticipated.
Before joining Celtic Duffy had barely played any competitive football, prior to that at Brighton he had excelled in the heart of defence for a team that was built to defend and strike on the counter attack.
With Celtic playing two attack minded full-backs their on loan defender has been left badly exposed with Neil Lennon leaving Duffy on the bench at Motherwell with Kris Ajer partnering Nir Bitton in defence.
On Thursday Ireland face England at Wembley with Kenny telling The Argus (Brighton):
I have a list that my fitness coach and analyst compiled in relation to the amount of minutes and games our players have played. Shane Duffy has played, from starting the first game for me in Bulgaria (in September), 18 games in that period (prior to the Motherwell match).
He didn’t play (from the start) yesterday, he came on at the end (in the 78th minute). That’s fine. Maybe he needed a rest. We’ll have a look – I’ll see how he comes in, I’ll chat to him and see how he is but if you’re asking me, have I got faith in Shane, I definitely do. I believe in him.
I think his performances for Ireland overall, (under) three different managers, have been to a very high standard and I think we should appreciate him.
After the match with England, Ireland face Wales in Cardiff on Sunday before hosting Bulgaria on Wednesday.
