O’SHEA GAVE IT HIS ALL
‘Ultimately you’ve got to win but I was more than happy with everything we did’
FOR his final media briefing, in a dressing room in Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night, the caretaker Republic of Ireland manager trod carefully.
Like in his playing days, John O’Shea wasn’t going to slide in and get his shorts mucky if he could stay on his feet.
He spoke of his focus over the two friendly games, the backing and support of the staff, the response from the players.
Only there was more. There had to be, and bit by bit, O’Shea offered clarity on his journey to take charge of the Irish team, and where it might lead to.
When the FAI were interviewing a dozen candidates in the
“Plenty of managers would love this job”
wake of Stephen Kenny’s departure, O’Shea confirmed that he wasn’t contacted, nor did he expect to be.
‘As I mentioned, that wasn’t a scenario for me because they were talking about a manger with experience,’ he said.
It offered perspective on his position in the succession stakes. He was very much an outsider as the FAI looked elsewhere.
He has ‘experience’ now, albeit just two games, which won’t change things. Asked if he felt the FAI have someone lined up, O’Shea returned to Marc Canham’s opening address at the Aviva on March 4.
‘From the wording I’ve heard before the previous games, they (FAI) said they have. That’s my understanding of it,’ he said.
O’Shea remains a rookie manager, just as Steve Staunton was in 2005 when the FAI came calling. Staunton said yes to the top job but it damaged him, and he never recovered. Too much, too soon.
For O’Shea it’s also too soon but he’s in a better place now than the Dundalk man was almost 20 years ago. And if the new manager was looking for a No 2, O’Shea didn’t discount himself if an approach was made.
‘It’s a discussion I’d have with the potential incoming manager but that’s a wait and see job.’
When he was asked if the past 10 days have given FAI something to think about, he didn’t dive in.
‘Look, if we have, brilliant. Our focus was on the two games, to get a group together to win games if we could. We drew with Belgium, lost 1-0 to Switzerland but had a really pleasing response from suffering in the game, fixed it and should have got more joy in the second half.’
‘Ultimately you’ve got to win too. The counterpoint to that is I was more than happy with everything we did and how we went about it.’
It has all fuelled his desire to be a manager, be a No 1, even if it’s unlikely to be with Ireland again, for some time yet at least.
‘If I could be the manager of Real Madrid, Manchester United or Ireland in the morning, I would make it happen,’ he grinned.
‘To manage a club or international team, requires a really important skillset in terms of the balance and control of what you need, understanding squads, ages, where players can help you out, knowing the group, putting all those factors together.
‘Plenty of managers from Ireland would love the job. Plenty of managers from around the world would love the job too.
‘In terms of learning during the last five years, my thought process was to learn from coaches and managers, how to go about things to be a manager. The taste it’s given me has reaffirmed my thought process to be a manager.’
Meanwhile, the 24 teams for the Euro finals were confirmed on Tuesday night with Poland, Ukraine and Georgia coming through the play-offs.
If Ireland hadn’t lost at home to Ukraine or blown a lead in neutral Wroclaw in the Nations League, they could have overcome Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland in the play-offs.
Instead, a fourth successive tournament finals will come and go without Ireland.
If that sequence is to end in the 2026 World Cup, where there are 16 places for European teams, up
from 13, Ireland need a strong Nations League in the autumn.
England will be firm favourites, naturally, but Greece and Finland are on a par with Ireland in the FIFA rankings.
If Ireland can perform as they did against Belgium, there is no reason why they can’t finish second in their group, which would probably be sufficient for a World Cup play-off.
Before leaving the home dressing room, O’Shea had words of encouragement for the players.
‘I just reminded them of that response in the second half and then go back to their clubs and show confidence of getting and staying in the team, scoring goals and keep clean sheets, whether you’re a defender, midfielder, attacker or goalkeeper.
‘I said to them to bring that all together, to make sure that when you come into the next camp with Ireland, that you’re focused on getting Ireland back to major tournaments.
‘We should have beaten Belgium and probably should have got a draw against Switzerland.’
O’Shea used 19 players over the two days, awarding new caps to Sammie Szmodics and Finn Azaz — the former is here to stay.
Caoimhín Kelleher made a firm claim to be No 1 while the back three were excellent against Belgium and Robbie Brady justified his recall.
The combination of Evan Ferguson and Adam Idah late on against the Swiss was promising but a dearth of goals remain an issue, while Ireland’s best player was also their oldest, Seamus Coleman.
Over two games Ireland were competitive and compact. O’Shea, not for the first time on international duty, did a decent job.