DUFF’S SHOCK EXIT CLEARS WAY FOR O’SHEA TO JOIN KENNY SET-UP
STEPHEN KENNY may turn to an international centurion to replace the one he lost in a surprise move, with John O’Shea tipped to move into the role which Damien Duff has vacated with the senior international team.
Serbia, Kenny’s first opponents in the World Cup qualifiers in March, have a major difficulty in finding someone to manage their team, as national icons Dragan Stojkovic and Sinisa Mihajlovic both ruled themselves out of contention due to contractual obligations at their current employers at club level, leading the Serbian FA to prepare the untested Savo Milosevic for the role in the qualifiers which begin in just 10 weeks.
Having been teased with the prospect of hiring the immensely popular Stojkovic, known as Piksi back home, to lead them out of the gloom, a Serbian public still smarting from a Euro 2020 play-off loss to Scotland will greet the arrival of Milosevic with a shrug of indifference.
The immediate outlook for the FAI, with their manager’s position, is a lot more secure but Kenny, having spent the weekend dealing with the aftermath of Duff’s exit, will have to devote time this week to replacing Duff, who resigned as coach in a statement issued by the FAI late on Friday night.
A number of potential candidates have already been linked with the position of third-in-command, which was held by Robbie Keane under Kenny’s predecessor Mick McCarthy and Keane remains on the FAI payroll, but there is no chance of Keane emerging from his FAI gardening leave to take up a post on Kenny’s backroom staff as it’s viewed as impossible for Kenny and Keane – two Tallaght natives – to work together.
Former international John O’Shea is the most likely candidate, and it’s easy for Kenny and the FAI to promote him from his current post of assistant manager with an Ireland U-21 side managed by Jim Crawford.
O’Shea is under contract with Reading where he is first team coach under Serbian-born boss Veljko Paunović and adding senior duties with Ireland would require clearance from a promotion-chasing Reading outfit, but that’s a hurdle that could be easily cleared.
Kenny could look to home to appoint a coach for the senior side but with travel regulations between Ireland and England making it difficult to carry out scouting missions, having O’Shea in England would make sense.
Duff and the other members of the Irish-based coaching staff had been attending weekly midweek meetings at FAI HQ in Dublin, though Keith Andrews is believed to have moved his base to England, having lived in Dublin for a spell, and while Kenny was able to attend three games in a five-day stay in England before Christmas, he is uncertain of how much UK-bound travel he can make in the coming weeks.
Potential
O’Shea is seen as a potential future Ireland manager and while he is said to be keen to retain his role at Reading, a spell with the senior squad, especially as there is just one international window between now and the end of the English club season, would appeal.
Duff’s resignation, after just nine months as part of Kenny’s backroom staff, was confirmed by an FAI statement which was issued late on Friday night just before the news was about to break in the national media. Kenny attempted to persuade Duff to remain on his staff, especially as between now and September there is just one confirmed bout of international duty, in March, but Duff’s mind was made up and he confirmed to Kenny on Friday that he was leaving.
Apart from a 39-word statement in the FAI’s media release, Duff has not commented on his reasons for quitting and the timing has puzzled insiders, while even Kenny’s allies admit that Duff’s defection now has weakened the senior team boss.
It was reported over the weekend that Duff, who is still coach of the Shelbourne U-17 side, was highly critical of the FAI’s reaction to the Videogate controversy in November, later labelling it as a “non-story” and that he defended Kenny when Duff was being debriefed by FAI officials as part of the probe into the controversy. But FAI sources also claimed that Duff used that meeting with senior FAI staffers to suggest changes and improvements he wanted made to the set-up at senior level.
Goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly withdrew from duty for the final international of 2020 for health reasons but last month Kenny promised that the former Sheffield United man was still a member of his staff and would return for service in March.