O'Shea insists improved performance and Aviva crowd can turn Greek result on its head
IMPROVEMENT NECESSARY: Cadbury launched its Grounds for Change initiative at grassroots club Douglas Hall AFC in Cork with former Republic of Ireland international and current men’s assistant coach John O'Shea. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
In contrast to a club career that weighed with so much expectation, John O’Shea believes the tempering of it ought to contextualise Ireland’s present plight.
The centurion has returned this year as one of Stephen Kenny’s assistants for a Euro campaign that is over from a qualification perspective with three games left.
Reaching a major tournament, something O’Shea achieved twice, involves going to war with group rivals, he says, and Ireland have been wounded two defeats, most recently, to France and Netherlands at home.
It was the Greek tragedy in June, however, that left them vulnerable to the mortal blow of last month.
Next Friday offers an opportunity to avenge defeat against O’Shea’s former manager, Gus Poyet, albeit a belated and futile version.
“It’s natural in football but there has to be a realisation of the opposition we’re facing and what we must go to war with,” he said about the negativity around another prematurely doomed campaign under Kenny.
“If you weigh all those things up, then you’d must have, you’d hope, a bit of common sense but we’ll see.
“If you take our performances from the recent France and Holland games, and then Greece, in isolation, that was one where we felt we didn’t do ourselves justice in.”
The ease with which Poyet outwitted, and his players outmuscled, Ireland were the more worrying aspects of another single goal defeat.
All the more bewildering was the flatness in the display, given the long break between the club season and international window was mitigated by training camps in Bristol and, principally, Turkey.
O’Shea is confident Friday 13th in Dublin won’t descend into another fright night like what was endured by being caught cold in humid Athens.
“Greece had a very experienced squad when you look at their age profile and a great home record, so we weren’t surprised at all by them,” surmised the possessor of a Champions League and five Premier League medals from his Manchester United days.
“We were just disappointed with how we went about it in the sense of how we felt we were in shape for the game.
“Our players are more than experienced enough to cope with the (atmosphere). It’s that one that sticks out where we didn’t perform anywhere near where we know we can.
“Hindsight, looking back at things, is wonderful. It’s something we want to put right and I’m fairly sure we will at home.
“Ultimately, we’ve to play and perform better than that night. If we do that with the Aviva fully behind us, I think we will be able to have a different result.”
Ireland’s sole backdoor route to next year’s Euros in Germany is via the Nations League playoffs, a scenario they have a mere 12% chance of entering based on projections until the qualifiers conclude in November.
“No - the stats men are,” the Waterford man says when asked if he’s observing if nations in other pools are likely to bestow favours.
“We’re just looking at the next two games - Greece in particular and Gibraltar a few later,” he asserted.
“You have to realise Greece are a decent, solid European team but if you want to be qualifying for tournaments, you have to start winning some games.” Giblets of positivity to brighten the gloom must be grasped.
Kenny unveils his squad on Thursday and barring another surprise late injury, Evan Ferguson will return to lead the line. His Brighton and Hove Albion teammate Andy Moran is one of the uncapped cadets tipped to solve the absence of an attacking midfielder in the current structure.
“I worked a little bit with him at U21 level and saw a Blackburn Rovers game or two,” O’Shea said of the playmaker currently excelling for his on-loan Championship club.
“The more players we have like that coming along, it'll make everyone's life a bit easier.
“I was slightly worried he maybe wasn't going to get enough gametime but he's shown how competitive he is. It’s really tough at Championship level and, if he's able to cope with that, it's a really good sign already.”
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