Seamus Coleman: 'Why would John O'Shea not be in the running for it?'
SUITABLE? of Ireland interim head coach John O'Shea. Pic: Stephen McCarthy, Sportsfile
Seamus Coleman is 35 now.
No one has given greater commitment to the Irish cause in modern times than the current captain and the numbers on his birth cert mean that any take he has on the next manager is hardly shaded by any personal interest.
The trickle of support for John O’Shea from inside his dressing room has been noticeable this last week.
Never more so than when Dara O’Shea expressed the view that the next man up should be someone with an understanding of the Irish game.
There is, in all this, a sense of the inevitable in that players of any hue are expected to talk up the man putting together the next teamsheet but the former Manchester United defender has clearly impressed his players through this international window.
Coleman among them.
“I don't want to sound like someone who's played a couple of games for the manager and I am doing all I can to get him in but being completely honest, the way he has conducted himself, how impressive has been, my time will be up soon but going forward for the future, so it's not on a personal level.
“But I think the way he's carried himself, the work that he, Paddy, Glenn have done behind the scenes has been really impressive. What he has done for his country, that respect he has from people instantly, he will be in the running... I have no idea but why not be in the running for it? I'd be delighted for him, but that's above my pay grade.”
O’Shea couldn’t break the cycle of dispiriting results with a draw against Belgium when Ireland might have done enough to win and a defeat against Switzerland when a second-half revival of sorts could have merited a draw.
It was still a tenure that seems to have gone down well.
Nathan Collins described the work done by O’Shea, Paddy McCarthy, Glenn Whelan and the rest of the staff as ten-out-of-ten and Coleman, who has played under four permanent Irish gaffers, was suitably impressed.
The Donegal man touched on the detail involved, the obvious pride taken in managing his country, and the fact that O’Shea looked comfortable in the post. A rookie manager, there was no sense of him being overawed by it all.
If nothing else, the interim boss brought a sense of structure and focus to a group that has basically been in drift mode since last summer when a 2-1 defeat away to Greece effectively left Stephen Kenny playing out his contract.
There is no pleasing everyone.
Social media told us that some were put out by the absence of any game time for the likes of Jake O’Brien, Festy Ebosele, Andy Moran and Joe Hodge while Coleman himself benefited from two starts on the back of a period out with injury.
So be it. No manager can please all the people all of the time.
There were debuts for Sammie Szmodics and Finn Azaz.
Szmodics started both games and Coleman was impressed with a player comfortable on the ball and an old-school work ethic that translates into his defensive duties and shape.
Azaz only got three minutes off the bench against the Swiss but the smile on his face afterwards illuminated the pride and the satisfaction that he took at earning that first senior cap and more will inevitably come.
“Finn has been great,” said Coleman. “Really, really good. Really nice lad. To be honest, I hadn't seen much of Finn before he came in. Technically, looks a really tidy player and really eager to do well.
“I was happy that he got on as he's trained well this week. Our job as senior players is to make them understand you're not just coming over to play a game of football, it's something different when you are representing Ireland.
“We will always do that with the young lads coming in but I have to say, bar the result, it's been a really enjoyable week, getting to know some of the new players and the feeling around the hotel this week has been good.”
For Coleman now the immediate concern is a return to Merseyside and the bid to break back into an Everton team that is just four points and two places above the Premier League relegation as things stand.
It has been a deeply frustrating season for the club on the pitch and off it with the changing circumstances relating to the points they have been docked and had returned. For Coleman too who has just five appearances to his name with them this term.
“You always want to be out there. It's a club thing and you support the lads at all times. I've been there before where I've not been playing and I'm not one of them that's going to throw my toys out of the pram, I'm one of them that supports everyone.
"Ultimately, Everton is the main goal for me, not what's at stake for me individually.
“It's about the team. We've got ten games now to go back, stick together as a group and keep working hard as a group.
"We've been there before and we know what it takes, but you've got to have a real understanding that we have to work hard between now and the end of the season.”
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