O’Shea at home on the senior stage

THE brave new era for the Republic of Ireland may not have been heralded with goals and glory. But what harm, there were some positive to be taken from last night’s affair in Athens which at least make the future a little brighter.

John O’Shea was one. The Waterford lad, beloved by Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, at last got his chance at senior international level. And he took it with gusto

“I can play better but it wasn’t my worst match and I felt comfortable,” he admitted in the immediate aftermath. “It was my first time starting a senior international match for my country and that made it a very important one for me.”

O’Shea, who usually plies his Premiership trade in the company of such experience and talent as Rio Ferdinand or Laurent Blanc, was keen to share the praise with his newest backline colleagues.

“It was a first time for me to play with Kenny Cunningham and Richard Dunne alongside and you have to give us time to get to know one another.

“Richard was outstanding at left-back and we kept a clean sheet so I can take that from the match.”

And to the future? “We were short a lot of players and given the quality of players who were missing, I believe Ireland can play a lot better. But I am pleased we got a draw.

“It was Don Givens’ first match as caretaker manager and I was pleased for him, he deserved this result.”

However the new centre-back, admitted that Ireland’s bright start gave him hopes of winning the match.

“We looked very good in the early stages and we played some first-class football,” he said.

“We found it difficult to get out of our own half after half-time but the referee seemed to see only our faults, he seemed to have trouble to pick up on their faults.”

Dunne, who as O’Shea pointed out was Ireland’s outstanding player, rubbished any suggestion that the match was not of significance.

“As far as I was concerned it was a very important match. I want to get back playing for Ireland on a regular basis and this was the first step in that process.

“It did not matter that there was not a big attendance. It was an international match for the Irish senior team and that was what was important for me. It was essential that we achieved a good result and I was delighted that we kept a clean sheet”.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Ireland remain in 14th place in the FIFA World rankings released yesterday though a number of the Boys in Green’s European Championship Group Ten rivals have moved slightly.

However, in all cases, the moves have been because of international fixtures involving non-European teams as there have been no internationals in Europe since October’s rankings were released.

Russia dropped one place to 24th because of the rise of Japan and Uruguay with Columbia vacating their place in the top 20, while further down, Georgia dropped four places to 81st.

Albania, climbed one spot to 95th while Switzerland remain in 45th place.

Closer to home, Northern Ireland dropped two places to 100th position, their lowest position since last summers nadir when they dropped to 107th.

Scotland drop two places to 57th and Wales climb to 65th, their highest position since 1995.