Wallace Duffy has pledged his future to Inverness Caley Thistle and is optimistic about next season.
The defender was one of the players on the Caley Jags’ out of contract list following Saturday’s Scottish Cup final defeat to Celtic.
However, Duffy revealed he has penned a deal to remain in the Highland capital.
There are a host of Caley Thistle players out of contract, including the likes of Billy Mckay, Danny Devine, Aaron Doran and Scott Allardice, while Robbie Deas has already switched to Kilmarnock.
Despite some uncertainty, Duffy is upbeat when he looks to next term.
The 24-year-old said: “I’m still around next season, I’ve got another year with the club and I’m looking forward to it.
“I know there will be a bit of a rebuild with players coming and going.
“But we’ve got a good group and a good crop of young players who have gained a lot of experience this season and been thrown in at the deep end at times when we had a lot of injuries this season.
“I’m excited to see what we can do next season.”
Cup final and promotion push
It was a strange campaign for Caley Thistle. An abundance of injuries mid-season hampered their Championship promotion bid.
But when players returned in the second half of the season, Billy Dodds’ charges finished the league campaign strongly and also reached the Scottish Cup final.
Duffy added: “We fell short of the play-offs, but we had that horrible run with injuries and I don’t think anybody has ever had a run like it.
“When we came out the other side of it, we went on a mad run and almost got into the play-offs after looking like we had no chance.
“We got to a cup final at the same time so I don’t think you could ask for much more more.
“I feel like we can build on this and really kick on next season – you want some continuity.
“You don’t want everything up in the air and everyone scrambling about in the summer. You want some stability and a good core.
“We know we’ll lose some players, but we’ll keep some as well, that’s football.”
Late-season run shows Inverness’ potential
Although disappointed to lose to Celtic at the weekend Duffy believes Caley Thistle showed what they’re capable of on their run to the cup final.
They had some luck along the way – namely getting reinstated after Queen’s Park fielded an ineligible player against them in round four – but after that they took the scalps of Premiership sides Livingston and Kilmarnock, before defeating Falkirk in the semi-final.
Duffy said: “I think you’ve seen the potential of Inverness. We’ve had some good results against Premiership teams and deserved to be in the final.
“We had a little bit of luck earlier in the run, but that wasn’t our fault, and after it we put away two Premiership teams and a high-flying Falkirk.
“Nobody wants to go home from Hampden empty-handed, but sometimes you just have to say you were beaten by a good side.
“They’re the best team in the country, there’s no denying that.”
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