Derrymen Shane Duffy and James McClean enjoyed weekend goals to add further joy to their fresh starts and encourage Ireland manager Stephen Kenny.

Duffy’s surprise return to centre stage at Brighton continued with his first half header finding the target in Saturday’s victory over Watford. The 29-year-old also played his part in the team keeping a clean sheet.

Meanwhile, McClean’s second stint at Wigan got off to a perfect start with the winger coming off the bench to strike an injury-time goal in their League One success at Charlton.

Kenny was in attendance at the Amex Stadium and received a further boost when Aaron Connolly made his return off the bench after being left out of Brighton’s opening game of the season for “personal reasons”.

Brighton boss Graham Potter praised Duffy and spoke about the difficulties the defender endured in a year to forget with Celtic.

“If you conduct yourself well and give yourself a chance on a daily basis, then you give yourself a chance to play well,” said Potter.

“That’s what he’s done and it’s really paid off for him. Everyone here loves him, myself and the staff have always loved him and we’re delighted for him for what’s happening now.

“He’s had a really tough year, he lost his father suddenly, and that’s quite clearly something that’s extremely tough to deal with.

“Then he had to cope with lockdown in a strange city, and that hadn’t gone well on the pitch, it was disappointing for him and Celtic.

“And sometimes you reflect on what changes you can make. He’s done that, come into a good group, and environment. And we all just want Shane to be happy, because when he’s happy, he’s fantastic.”

The slight worry for Kenny from Brighton is that Jayson Molumby limped off in the final minute of an under-23 game on Friday. He has been linked with a loan switch to Swansea.

Alan Browne was unavailable for Preston’s win over Peterborough on Saturday as he was in a contingent of players forced to isolate because they are a close contact of a positive case. Kenny will be waiting for a timeline on his return before confirming his squad on Thursday.

Seani Maguire has fallen out of favour with the Ireland boss Kenny but he did return to Preston’s side on account of their absentees. Scott Hogan bagged a brace of goals for Birmingham City at Luton which might put him in contention for a recall.