'You have to keep adapting' - Shane Duffy reacts as a depleted Ireland draw with Wales

Andrew Dempsey reports from the Aviva Stadium

Republic of Ireland centre-back Shane Duffy has stressed the importance of adapting to the ever-changing world in a footballing sense.

Duffy captained a heavily depleted Ireland to a scoreless draw at home to Wales on Sunday afternoon – but even he admits this has been a strange time for him as a player.  

“It has been an experience if I could say anything,” he told the media this afternoon. “I don’t what there is to say about it really. It’s all about adapting and trying to do our best with what we’ve got.”

He added: “It’s a hard one to answer because nobody knows what’s happening and every day is something different. You have to keep adapting every day, and this is probably the year that we’re in.

“We’ve got good medical people involved and we have to trust them. There’s nothing that we can do about it.

“We just have to keep preparing and thinking about the matches. That’s the main priority for us as players.”

Midway through the first-half, Duffy was joined in the heart of defence by full-back Matt Doherty who was forced to deputise for the injured Kevin Long.

“I thought he was brilliant,” Duffy said on Doherty’s showing at centre-back. “I thought he did everything he had to do, and he knows the defensive side of the job as well.

“He’s getting better and better each game as well, so he fitted in great and he was brilliant. It’s a completely different role that he’s probably never played before.

“It’s good for us because we know that he can play there. Obviously, we’d rather have him at right-back but he did what was asked of him, got a clean sheet and fair play to him.”