Duff is ready to take on the best

Blackburn's fleet-footed forward could be one of the major discoveries of the tournament. Steve Tongue assesses the qualities of a player who fills different roles for club and country

It was the sort of invitation to which wizened old lags reply with a sick-note: a March friendly away to the Czech Republic in somewhere called Olomouc, the first match since being knocked out of the World Cup in a play-off. But one footballer's slight groin strain is another player's opportunity, and among those replying to the Football Association of Ireland's summons with whoops of delight rather than a tired groan were a couple of young shavers called Damien Duff and Robbie Keane. By the time the squad staggered back to Dublin, beaten 2-1 but not disgraced, the teenaged pair were the proud possessors of a first full international cap.

Four years on, their names were not only among the first on Mick McCarthy's list for the World Cup finals, but had long been inked in as his striking partnership for next Saturday's opening match against Cameroon. If that had always seemed to be Keane's destiny, it was less predictable that Duff, a year older but barely an inch taller, should be alongside him. Blackburn Rovers supporters might reasonably have expected any international team to want their man in his club position wide on the left, opening up the tightest of defences with his pace and bewitching dribbling skills just as he undid Liverpool's at Anfield recently (what would the watching Sven Goran Eriksson not have given for an English Duff at that moment?). There were even Irishmen at Lansdowne Road two months ago, watching him take an experienced Danish rearguard apart, who felt that there could be no more natural position than on the wing; those listening to the radio commentary on RTE would have heard the former Republic manager Eion Hand even making comparisons with George Best.

McCarthy, however, having been forced to do without his beanpole striker Niall Quinn more often than not, had decided that Ireland must devise an alternative strategy. Wimbledon's David Connolly, another under-sized forward, having failed to gel with Keane (he was once hauled off, to his great displeasure, after less than half an hour) the inappropriately nicknamed Duffer was given the chance at the start of this season. Within a month they were turning in an outstanding performance together in the crucial 1-0 qualifying victory at home to the Netherlands.

"They're a terrific partnership with great understanding," McCarthy says. "They've got pace and ability, find angles for themselves and other people and can stretch the opposition. I'd been asked who might be a surprise player at the World Cup and said Damien Duff, but teams will be watching him now." Even in his youngest days, it was difficult to keep word of Duff's ability secret. Pat Devlin, Blackburn's Irish scout, heard all about the talented boy from Ballyboden early on and insisted on sending him over to Lancashire at the age of 15. For a while homesickness almost got the better of him – his parents Gerry and Mary had to be taken across the water to reassure him – but there was never a problem on the pitch and he was in the first-team for the final match of the 1996-97 season, soon after his 18th birthday.

That summer it was Malaysia, where a characteristic individual goal against Ghana earned Ireland third place in the World Youth Championship. The coach Brian Kerr had told his players to conserve their energy in the heat and pace themselves – then quietly advised Duff just to go out and play his natural game. Less than a year later came the invitation to Olomouc and a chasing for the Czech defenders: "My job is going past people and I was trying to be Billy the Hero. It was great," he recalls. Now Duffer the Hero takes on the world. The secret is out, but stopping him may be another matter.