John O'Shea: 'Quiet confidence' in Ireland camp ahead of World Cup playoff

There is a clean bill of health in the Ireland camp ahead of Thursday's World Cup playoff against Czechia in Prague

John O'Shea: “Our first training session today was almost reminding me of that cup final scenario, where everyone is wanting to get in the team." Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

There were no attempts by the Irish camp to downplay the significance of Thursday’s World Cup playoff, with assistant manager John O’Shea declaring ‘cup final’ territory.

Ireland are within two cup finals of a first World Cup qualification since 2002 and a first major tournament in a decade.

They will likely have to overcome two nations above them in Fifa’s rankings, starting on Thursday with Czechia in their backyard in Prague.

If they maintain the momentum from November’s epic wins over Portugal and Hungary by conquering again, it will either be Denmark or North Macedonia coming to Dublin on Tuesday week for the playoff decider.

“We had the boys playing club games from Thursday to Sunday but they’re all in a good place,” said O’Shea, assistant to Heimir Hallgrímsson.

“Our first training session today was almost reminding me of that cup final scenario, where everyone is wanting to get in the team.

“The intensity, the noise and the atmosphere around the boys is brilliant.

“There’s a quiet confidence, the group is growing together and it’s great to see. But also, there is a lot of hard work to come.” 

Troy Parrott’s hat-trick helped Ireland defy the odds in Budapest by snaffling second spot in the table and this playoff.

Replicating that effort, cohesion and ruthlessness is imperative at the Fortuna Arena.

“You have to reinforce that again straight away,” said the multiple Premier League winner with Manchester United.

“The boss had a meeting this morning with the boys and we reinforce that in the training sessions and the video meetings we’ll have over the next few days, to transport them back to that moment in Hungary.

“We then fast forward to arriving in Prague and what’s ahead of us.

“It’s tough opposition but one we can have success against.” 

Captain Nathan Collins echoed the optimism levels.

“It’s finally come around, hasn’t it?” said the Brentford centre-back.

“It’s been a long time coming but I think time has gone quickly since the last game.

“It doesn’t feel like we’ve had so many games in between. I’m really excited and really looking forward to it. It’s good to get into camp and see all the lads.

“We’ve always wanted to win and give the fans something to cheer for. We still want to do that and give them more.

“But the way we went about it, to beat Portugal at home and then away to Hungary in the last minute, it was a special moment.

“We had a few days off, so we had a bit of time on our hands to go and do stuff, go to a concert, whatever.

“But as a group, from that moment, we want to feel that again. We have only done half a job getting here, now we have got two more games to go and do the rest of it.” 

A clean bill of health was reported with Parrott the sole player to only take a partial involvement due to his 90-minute outing for AZ Alkmaar on Sunday.