Ronaldo reunion in Portugal brings back memories of tough night for John O'Shea
RONALDO REUNION: Interim head coach John O'Shea during a Republic of Ireland media conference at Estádio de São Miguel in Gondomar, Portugal. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
On the eve of his final audition for the Ireland job, John O’Shea was reminded by a Portuguese journalist of his forgettable introduction to Cristiano Ronaldo.
Back in August 2003, not far from his current base of Porto, Ireland’s interim manager was given the runaround by the rising star in a pre-season friendly.
So much so that Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson ensured the 18-year-old was immediately recruited from Sporting Lisbon.
Ferguson, Roy Keane and Rio Ferdinand would all later reference that masterclass and O’Shea’s inadvertent role in one of the club’s best-ever players coming to Old Trafford.
Keane’s line about his fellow Munsterman needing to see a doctor at half-time for dizziness was taken in the jest it was meant but the home media weren’t slow to trigger flashbacks.
“21 years - that long ago?,” he said with a smile before citing the long-haul flight from New York to Lisbon. “I was slightly jet-lagged but I do remember.
“We were fully aware of Cristiano’s from that night in Lisbon but what a difference between the player who arrived into Old Trafford and who left years later.
“He had the dedication in terms of improving his technique every week, every day.
“There were some tough challenges, not only in terms of the opposition he was facing but also in our training matches.
“We were making him fully prepared for what the Premier League was going to be, the tests he was going to have to face.
“But he also had good mentors in his Portuguese team also when he broke through in that team, the mentors to learn from too. It wasn’t a surprise to me to see what he’s gone on to do because we saw how special a player he was very early.”
Ronaldo is now 39 and expected to lead Portugal out against Ireland on Tuesday night in their final friendly before their Euro finals adventure begins a week later.
O’Shea’s pre-match press conference was unsurprisingly dominated by questions about his former teammate, with him suggesting this tournament may not be his last.
“Knowing the type of person and professionalism Ronaldo has, I'm sure he has plans in his head to carry on for Portugal and where he's going to go, hopefully, in the future,” he noted.
“Further down the line, he might have ambitions to manage his country also in tournaments to come – if he wants to bring those pressures on him to take.
“But he's had no problem taking the pressures of his country already throughout his career, so whatever his next steps will be, I'm sure they will be positive for Portugal.”
From an Ireland perspective, O’Shea has the opportunity of both boosting his credentials for the permanent job and ruin Ronaldo’s farewell.
He registered his first win of his caretaker spell, at the third attempt, against Hungary last Tuesday. Matchwinner Troy Parrott and Jake O’Brien are both in contention to be promoted from their substitutes’ role to starters.
“It’s what we want from the team in terms of the stage of the season,” he said about the competition for spots.
“It’ll be a little bit warmer in Aveiro than it was in Dublin and we saw how we needed the players to come on and impact the game against Hungary.
“It will be the same tomorrow, whatever team is selected. It will be important that the people who are coming on are finishing the game strong, with ideas, like we did the other night and we got our rewards from it.
“That’s a key message. It’s a different test but we have to take some of the momentum we got against Hungary into the Portuguese game.
“Portugal have evolved over the last couple of years since we played them too a few years ago.”
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