O'Shea: French experience will stand O'Brien in good stead

O’Shea underwent a similar career upbringing, taking in a loan spell in Belgian outfit Antwerp before making his mark at United, and feels his fellow Munsterman is on track to add depth to Ireland’s central-defensive pool.

Wed, 04 Oct, 2023 - 06:44

John Fallon

Ireland’s lone man in Ligue One, Jake O’Brien, received a cryptic message within hours of joining Olympique Lyon.

“Don’t worry, Larry White will look after you,” beamed the words on the Corkman’s phone.

It took a while for the penny to drop but the contact between a former Ireland centre-back to a likely future one referred to Laurent Blanc.

O’Shea was breaking into the Manchester United team as Blanc was ending his glittering career at the club and was glad one of his U21 pupils was learning from the best.

Only Larry wasn’t too happy to last just four league games as Lyon manager into O’Brien’s French sojourn.

Once gone from Les Gones, his successor Fabio Grosso handed the 22-year-old his debut, making him the first Irishman since Tony Cascarino in 2000 to grace the top-flight.

“What an experience for Jake,” noted O’Shea, who watched coverage of his bow, the 2-0 defeat.

“Obviously people thought, me included, that he was going to go on loan but fair play to him, the type of fella he is, he just gets his head down and works hard.

“Grosso probably has a bit of work to do on the team’s defending, looking at the goals they've conceded, but Jake is in a different environment, learning different cultures, tactics and ideas.

“We’ve quite a few lads playing around Europe. Festy Ebosele is doing brilliantly at Udinese, playing against the likes of Napoli and Fiorentina. The big thing is he’s getting 90 minutes under his belt.

“I was on my UEFA Masters course with their sporting director Federico Balzaretti and they really like Festy. The big thing is he’s now getting 90 minutes under his belt because they trust him.”