O’Shea: Declare your intent
O’Neill’s attempts to enlist Aston Villa teen Jack Grealish for this Sunday’s opener Euro 2016 qualifier in Georgia hit the buffers last week, while Mark Noble yesterday confirmed he needs a couple more weeks to make up his mind.
Ireland vice-captain O’Shea, set to lead the team out for Wednesday’s friendly against Oman in the injury-enforced absence of Robbie Keane, believes any dithering by prospective recruits proves to be detrimental to the player in the long run.
“It’s very simple,” said the 96-times capped Waterford man yesterday, at a visit to Lucan United FC as part of the McDonald’s FAI Football Future Coaching venture.
“I just don’t want players to hum and haw about it. Or to use one of my father’s phrases, dilly-dally. Don’t do that because, first off, it probably gets you off to a bad start with the fans.
“Declare yourself for Ireland and, if selected, come and do your stuff.
“If players want to come, show they want to play and turn up when selected, then people should get behind them the minute they pull on the jersey.”
One player sure of his international intentions is Shay Given, who will train with the squad this morning for the first time since quitting the fold two years ago.
O’Shea is thrilled to have Ireland’s most capped goalkeeper back in the fold, even if he insists the 38-year-old won’t cakewalk back into the position he held for 16 years.
“I’m surprised at Shay coming back but delighted at the same time,” said the Sunderland centre-back.
“Losing Richard Dunne’s experience and quality was a blow, but to have someone like Shay coming in obviously helps the group.
“We’re going to a tough destination in Georgia this week and Shay will be important for that situation.
“He obviously thought when he packed it up that he’d play more club football than he has.
“But he’s spoken to Martin O’Neill about it and the competition will be great because we’ve named four goalkeepers in the squad.
“Westie (Keiren Westwood) has done very well at Sheffield Wednesday and David Forde has been fantastic since he’s become first choice for Ireland.
“It’s all good, in that sense. If we could have that competition every department, that’d be brilliant.”
After 11 months and seven friendlies to sift through their options, O’Neill and Roy Keane finally get the serious business underway with the first of 10 qualifiers this Sunday.
Wednesday’s warm-up friendly against Oman may not be the stiffest of dry runs for entering such a hostile setting in Tbilisi but O’Shea is of the opinion that some players can utilise the platform to secure their places in the team four days later.
While the 33-year-old is ruing the absence of midfield powerhouse Jeff Hendrick (dislocated shoulder), he considers it a chance for his former Manchester United colleague Darron Gibson to stake a claim.
Gibson has yet to play for Everton since returning from a long-term injury but was back on bench for Saturday’s defeat to Chelsea.
“The friendly against Oman will be important because lads like Darron Gibson in particular can get football under their belts,” said O’Shea.
“Stephen Ward has gone to Burnley but not been able to get many minutes. So in that sense, it’s proved a great stroke to have that game before we head off to Georgia. It’s disappointing Jeff’s got injured. After his strong start to the season, he could have been vital for us in our first away qualifier.
“Since Martin came into the job last November, we’ve played a lot of friendlies which has given him the chance to see the quality of players up close, such as Wes Hoolahan.”
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