Straight after the coverage of France vs Romania ended, and right after a brilliant Aprés Match where RTÉ and TV3 had the mick taken with no hesitation, Damien Duff joined Ray Houghton in the RTÉ studio to look ahead to Ireland's opener against Sweden.
We are really enjoying Damien Duff's transition into punditry, mainly for the fact that you know he is telling it as he sees it and leaves the bullshit to the other pundits, and that was perfectly clear to see when he gave his views on Shane Long.
While he is easily our best player on current form, Long wasn't first choice striker for much of the qualification campaign and hasn't always had it his way in the green jersey, and Damien Duff recalled a time when Longy was a nightmare teammate on the training pitch.
We just think his game has come on leaps and bounds this year.
Like, I remember back in the day when I'd be training with Longy, he was the worst trainer ever.
You'd see him on your five-a-side team and you'd be like... "Aww no, this is only goin' one way here."
But he's come on an awful lot and I think Koeman had a big part to play getting him to Southampton because, yeah he's got the pace and power, but you're starting to see a bit of touch and a bit of guile.
He really has transformed his game.
Playing in such a technically talented Southampton team has clearly been beneficial, and it's great to see an Irish striker in form in the Premier League.
Duff too is on good form and he dropped this nugget on us tonight as well.
Damien Duff reveals why he thinks Ireland should take Jose Mourinho's "Too much water kills the flower" advice. https://t.co/kqloI6VUtF
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 10, 2016
Damien Duff is a quality pundit, we're looking forward to seeing more of him in the coming weeks.
via @RTESoccer on Twitter.
