ALL EYES ON FAI CHIEF’S BIG REVEAL
with the association committed to announcing a permanent boss in early April.
FAI sources insist Roberto Di Matteo is not a contender, despite the former Chelsea manager and player being pictured with Hill at last night’s game in Dublin.
But O’shea wants to be considered for the vacancy and said: “I think that’s something that we will obviously discuss later on.
“For me the full focus was on the two games, to enjoy the moment in terms of learning from it and really understand it.
“I wanted to learn about myself in terms of how I cope with the situation with the games, and learn if I want to do it more.”
Pushed on being a manager in his next role, rather than a coach, O’shea said: “Look, the emphatic answer from me would be, yes. But where that is, let’s wait and see.
“My instinct would be that I’m more than ready and capable to be a manager.
“Let’s wait and see. I can only speak for how much myself and the staff have enjoyed working with the players.”
O’shea continued: “These two games have only given me a taste for more, whether that’s with Ireland or club football.
“I’ve loved every minute of it and I’ve been fully engrossed in it, but I’m just annoyed we didn’t get a win in either of the two games.”
But O’shea was crying foul last night after claiming that Ireland defender Dara O’shea never touched his Burnley team-mate Zeki Amdouni.
Shaqiri settled the game with the resulting free kick from the edge of the area but Ireland caretaker O’shea said: “Dara has pulled his leg away and not made contact.
“It’s a frustrating one but sometimes you have to put your hands up too as Switzerland were dominating the game at that stage.”
But O’shea was impressed with Ireland’s application after the break as they tried to rescue the game, despite failing to work the Swiss keeper.
“I’m extremely proud of the way we responded in that second-half,” he added. “We had the attitude and commitment to quality to cause Switzerland problems.”