No stone left unturned
Interim boss O’Shea’s aim was to get it right, down to his words
SUCH is John O’Shea’s determination to cover all the bases as interim Republic of Ireland manager, he insisted on an amendment to his comments in a post-match huddle with the press.
Asked about the performance of the three centre-backs in the 0-0 draw with Belgium, O’Shea reflected on what is traditionally ‘a solid area for Ireland’ by listing the central defenders who didn’t play on Saturday.
He forgot to include John Egan, currently injured, but he subsequently directed the FAI media department to contact the journalists present and ask that they include the Sheffield United defender, for the record.
In one way, it displayed a manager wishing to be even-handed to all players, those fit or otherwise, but O’Shea didn’t need to correct himself as there was no slight on Egan.
Egan hasn’t played for Ireland since September and is the sort of character that wouldn’t take umbrage if not name-checked by the manager when unavailable.
It was a curious intervention by O’Shea, and a first for an Irish manager to modify a comment, one that hadn’t caused any ripples, but it reflected his preoccupation with getting things right.
On Saturday, O’Shea was mostly on the money and didn’t look out of place as a rookie manager preparing and picking a team for the first time; reacting to events on the pitch, and making substitutions when the time was right.
While Belgium were missing a number of front-liners, made a raft of changes, and rarely moved out of third gear, there were a number of positives for Ireland.
For starters, they had enough goal chances to beat the world’s fourth-ranked team, and looked a more compact unit than the brittle Mica-men of 2023, whose structures were built on sand.
Excluding the Euro 2024 qualifier against the part-timers of Gibraltar, Saturday was Ireland’s first clean sheet at home since June 2022, when the Scots were routed in a false dawn.
Since then, Armenia, Norway, Latvia, France, Greece, Netherlands and New Zealand all pierced the green line in Dublin but Belgium, ranked higher than any of those seven opponents, failed to do so.
That reflects well on the contributions of a youthful central
three of Andy Omobamidele (21), Nathan Collins (22) and Dara O’Shea (25).
Collins should be the fulcrum of the defence for the next decade. I’d like to see him foam at the mouth before games a bit more and let his opponent know he’s not to be messed with.
Flanking the defensive trio were the seasoned Séamus Coleman (35) and Robbie Brady (32).
Coleman has hardly played this season yet he held his own against Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard and Manchester City’s speedster Jeremy Doku.
By rights, they should have cleaned him out but Coleman morphs from Clark Kent into Superman when the green jersey is draped on his back.
He should have scored too but Chiedozie Ogbene, who did many things right on the night, took the wrong option when he should have passed.
The captain will be 36 in October.
For perspective, Paul McGrath, John Aldridge and Tony Cascarino have been the only 37-year-olds capped for Ireland in the past 30 years.
On current form, Coleman merits his place in the team.
Brady was always in O’Shea’s mind for left wing-back, even before the winds whistled across Dublin, which played to his deadball strengths.
For Matt Doherty, the omission may have stung as he was first choice under Kenny and has played over 300 minutes more in the Premier League this season than Coleman.
Doherty should get his chance tomorrow against Switzerland as the captain is likely to be rested.
Across midfield, there were plaudits for the sitter, Josh Cullen, and the stylist, Will Smallbone. It’s an area where Ireland lack guile and I’d like to see O’Shea give Andy Moran a run against the Swiss as the Under-21 ace can pick a pass — he can certainly find team-mate Sammie Szmodics.
The latter had a very fine debut, utterly nerveless. He was directly involved in creating chances for Ogbene and Evan Ferguson at the start of either half, and also unleashed two shots on goal.
There was no holding back either, as he relished the physical battles. Another start tomorrow would allow for further assessment.
Evan Ferguson shouldn’t dwell on his penalty lapse as it happens to all strikers — even Robbie Keane missed two penalties for
Ireland. I’m no fan of short-run ups for penalties as it reduces the power factor and gives keepers a chance unless the placement is perfect.
Ferguson slipped a little too before he struck the ball and changed his boots at half-time.
In general play, he was lively, mobile and put himself about high-calibre defenders. Remember, he’s still closer to 19 than 20.
O’Shea has nothing to lose by spinning the selection dice against the Swiss.
Gavin Bazunu, Jake O’Brien, Doherty, Ryan Manning, Jason Knight, Festy Ebosele and Adam Idah could all start.
With a new manager in waiting, the challenge for O’Shea is to hand over power after two games unbeaten and a squad of players feeling better about themselves than they did last November.
Saturday was a pointer in the right direction. Next up are Switzerland, who don’t have a great record in Dublin in spring time.
The means, motive and opportunity remains in the hands of O’Shea and his players.