Derry’s Shane Duffy has been praised by Yeovil Town boss Gary Johnson following his debut for the English Championship club.
Shane Duffy.
Duffy, a former Foyle Harps and Doire Colmcille GAA player, has joined Yeovil on loan from Everton. He only joined up with his new team-mates on Friday and was thrown straight into the action against Bolton the following day and made his home debut against Leicester at Huish Park on Tuesday, keeping Town regular Byron Webster out of the side.
Yeovil boss Johnson said the 21-year-old defender will only improve with more minutes under his belt.
He said: “He did very well up at Bolton and he did well against Leicester because he’s a solid player and a good defender.
“He hasn’t had many games so it might take him two to three to get a bit sharper, but he’s one we want winning headers in both penalty areas and he can.”
Centre-back Shane made a big sacrifice to join Everton’s Academy system when as a highly-regarded 16-year-old, he left Derry in November 2008 in order to follow his dream and immediately reaped the rewards when he was offered a place as a first-year scholar in the summer of that year.
Strong in the tackle and dependable in the air, Shane is considered a ball-playing defender. While at Goodinson Park, progressed quickly into the nder-18 and reserve teams and has played for Northern Ireland at under-16, 17, 19, 21 and B level. He caught the eye of Nigel Worthington and was called up to the full squad for a friendly against Italy.
Although he didn’t take to the field to face the Italians he received individual praise from international boss Worthington.
The youngster’s progress continued as he featured for Everton’s first team during pre-season in the summer of 2009, scoring his first goal in the 4-1 friendly win over Rochdale.
He was named as a substitute for the opening games of the 2009/10 campaign and remained a regular for Northern Ireland Under-21s.
Shane was soon thrust into first team action, making his debut as a replacement for Sylvain Distin during a 1-0 win against AEK Athens in Greece.
He then made his full home debut in December’s 1-0 defeat to BATE Borisov.
In February 2010 he switched his international allegiance to the Republic of Ireland but on his first link up with the ROI squad, he suffered a horrific freak injury that required life-saving surgery after suffering a severed artery near his liver. At one point there was 3.6 litres of blood in his abdomen, but thankfully the procedure was ultimately a success and he was able to begin his recovery.
He resumed match action in August 2010 playing a friendly for the reserves against Sligo Rovers and in March 2011 joined Championship promotion hopefuls Burnley on a 28-day emergency loan deal, his first spell with another club.
In August 2011, the 19-year-old joined League One outfit Scunthorpe United on an initial one-month deal, scoring his first goal for the Iron against Tranmere in a 4-2 victory in October.
Duffy made 19 appearances during his loan spell but was recalled to Everton in January 2012 and later that month made his first Premier League appearance for the club as a substitute in a clash with Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
The youngster was then rewarded with successive starts against Aston Villa, Blackburn and Fulham before being a near ever-present throughout the Blues’ pre-season schedule.
In September last year, he signed a new contract keeping him at Everton until 2015 but, unfortunately for him, the form of the senior centre backs at the club made places hard to come by in 2012/13 with him making just two substitute appearances leading to his loan spell at Yeovil.
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