John O'Shea: 'The players will know today what the team will be'

OLÉ, O'SHEA: Interim head coach John O'Shea during a Republic of Ireland media conference at the FAI Headquarters in Abbotstown, Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

John O’Shea will inform players today of his first Ireland XI, armed with instructions to go toe-to-toe with Belgium on Saturday.

The interim boss only has this friendly and another home fixture against Switzerland on Tuesday before a soon-to-be-confirmed permanent chief assumes control in early April.

In his customary calm fashion, the centurion batted away talk of the impending news, eager to avoid outside noise about his selection or what’s to transpire as spring switches to summer and the Nations League campaign kicks off with England’s visit on September 7.

Whereas the bulk of nations are either preparing for the Euros or involved in the playoffs to get there this week, the managerial search is the main talking point related to the Irish.

In other subplots, captain Séamus Coleman should make his first appearance for a year and the Championship’s top scorer Sammie Szmodics will be handed his debut at the ripe age of 28.

“The players will know today at some stage what the team will be,” said the five-time Premier League winner from his time at Manchester United.

“I think it's important that, and then you can focus down on some finer details, shall we say.

“That's when you come to the crunch time, final details and final preparation and having everyone on board.

“That's what we spoke about right from day one in terms of the two games, plenty of players playing and plenty of substitutes to finish the game and be as strong as you were when you started.

“The good thing is there are good players in form and it's a nice problem to have in a good few positions.”

O’Shea is happy to take counsel from his two assistants, Paddy McCarthy and Glenn Whelan, as well as technical advisor Brian Kerr when it comes to approaching the game against the side ranked fourth in the world.

“That’s where I just kept it in my head very simple in terms of the staff that I brought in,” he asserted.

“There are lots of amazing people and it will be one of them that I will be able to touch into that, connections afterwards as well in terms of the learnings from the two games as well and how you progress.

“That will be a big thing too but ultimately I just want to focus on the staff, myself and the players and not to be worried about too much outside noise.”