A NEW baby, a memorable, game-deciding goal, and now a man-of-the-match display on his international debut, safe to say life is good for Shane Duffy.

But, going into today’s derby clash against Preston North End (12.30pm kick-off), the Blackburn Rovers centre-back has no intention of resting on his laurels.

“I’m just taking it game by game,” said Duffy, who recently became a father to his second child and first boy.

“I think I am improving most weeks and I’m just trying to keep that improvement going.

“I think my season started a bit slowly but it’s got better. I’ve had those little dips but I think they have gone back up again.

“Consistency wise I’ve tried to keep it a higher level than I did last year.

“That’s just my aim to do it in every game and to get higher and higher.”

The statistics back that up with no player in the Championship having won more balls in the air than the 6ft 4in defender this season.

And respected football stats website whoscored.com rate Duffy as the best player in the division so far with an average rating of 7.47.

But one area the modest 24-year-old admits he needs to improve on is his goalscoring.

That said the chances he has missed was forgotten when he lashed in an unstoppable left-footer in 10-man Rovers’ dramatic 1-0 win at Brentford last time out.

Duffy’s wild celebrations, which went viral on social media, were even better as he jumped in head first to celebrate with the travelling supporters.

“My Twitter exploded!” he laughs. “I didn’t think at the time it was that big a thing but when I looked at it back I could see I nearly hit the back of the stand!

“All the lads gave me a bit of stick about it but it was enjoyable and I think the fans enjoyed it too.

“With the way the game panned out, and with what had gone on at Ipswich on the Tuesday, where the fans were obviously frustrated, I just thought, ‘why not?’

“I like showing a bit of passion and why not give them something back? I think they liked it.”

Republic of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill certainly liked what he saw after he handed Duffy his second international cap, and first on home shores, in his side’s 1-0 win over Switzerland in Dublin last Friday.

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The former Everton youngster set-up Ciaran Clark’s second-minute winner and went on to claim the man-of-the-match award with the type of commanding display Rovers fans have grown accustomed to this season.

“It was good to be back with the squad and to get game time,” said Duffy, whose first cap came against Costa Rica in a friendly in Philadelphia in June 2014.

“It was only my second cap, I enjoyed it, and it was good to get the win and play quite well.”

Duffy will have one eye on securing a late place in O’Neill’s Euro 2016 squad.

But this afternoon his sole concentration will be on helping Rovers achieve a derby double after they marked Paul Lambert’s first match in charge of the club with a Deepdale victory back in November.

Since then promoted Preston have moved above their neighbours in the table and will arrive at Ewood Park backed by 7,000 supporters.

“It’s a big game and, while their form in the league is very good, we’ve beat them before and we can beat them again,” said Duffy, who was outstanding in the reverse encounter.

“They’ve got a big fan base coming and hopefully our fans will come out in force.

“Hopefully we can get the first goal and then we can settle down and play our football but we’ve got to make sure we win our battles first.

“Preston have surprised me. We beat them at their place in the gaffer’s first game and I didn’t think they would end up where they are now. Fair play to them and they fully deserve everything they’re getting.

“But I think we’re capable of beating them. We’re all looking forward to it. It should be a brilliant game.”