Republic of Ireland interim coach John O’Shea expects some clarity from the FAI around his employment status after the Portugal match on June 11th.
“Let’s hope so,” said O’Shea ahead of tomorrow’s friendly against Hungary at the Aviva stadium. “I think everyone, including myself, the staff the players, everyone would like clarity on it.”
The FAI have stated that a manager will be announced before facing England in the Nations League opener on September 7th.
Andrew Omobamidele has been ruled out of this international window with a hamstring tear with Glasgow Celtic’s Bosum Lawal promoted from Jim Crawford’s under-21s squad.
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A centre half by trade, Lawal stood out in midfield while on loan to Fleetwood Town this season despite the club’s relegation from League One.
“We want to beat Hungary, we want to get the Irish team winning again, it’s as simple as that,” said O’Shea. “Get the mindset right in terms of winning the games at home especially, that’s the big thing, because if you know you are back winning matches, a Donegal man has that saying, I think. ‘Jimmy’s winning matches.’ So that’s the big thing for me. We’ve got to get winning matches.”
O’Shea took charge for the March friendlies against Belgium (0-0) and Switzerland (0-1) when the glaring issue was finishing.
“Scoring goals would be the big one but also, if you think about it, we limited Belgium and Switzerland to very few chances. Our goalkeepers were only beaten by a set piece. We limited two very good teams to a small number of chances so that will hopefully be the same again, we have to be difficult to beat for bigger threats.
“The key to winning matches is to take your chances when they come because we had chances in both games.”
Tom Cannon’s promotion to the senior squad, after the FAI fended off interest from England under-21 manager Lee Carsley for the Leicester City striker’s services, could nudge Ireland over the line in what has become a consistently difficult period.
“I watched him go out on loan to Preston, score some goals and then come back to Everton,” said Ireland captain Seámus Coleman of Cannon. “He is a player that I thought would stay around Everton, but it wasn’t meant to be, very good finisher, very fast, wants to do well and have a career in the game.”
In 2022 Ireland lost Nations Legue ties in June to Armenia and Ukraine while they failed to hit expected performances levels last June against Greece in Athens and at home to Gibraltar.
“It’s an awkward one in terms of players in different leagues finishing, whether that be in England or Europe,” O’Shea added. “It is a little bit tricky. We have plans in place with our fitness coach, with Damien [Doyle] and the lads follow that through.
“When they came in Thursday we had a little session just to see where the players are at.
“That won’t be an excuse for us - the team will be more than ready to cause Hungary problems.”
Hungary are undefeated in 14 matches, dating back to defeat to Italy in September 2022. Marco Rossi’s side host Israel in Debrecen on Saturday before their Euros campaign starts against Switzerland in Cologne. They also play Germany and Scotland in Stuttgart.
Meanwhile, Crawford has named Shamrock Rovers duo Conan Noonan and Jonny Kenny in the under-21 squad to face Croatia and England under-20s this month.
Republic of Ireland Under-21s Squad
Goalkeepers: Tiernan Brooks (Notts County), Killian Cahill (Brighton & Hove Albion), Josh Keeley (Tottenham Hotspur)
Defenders: James Abankwah (Udinese), Sam Curtis (Sheffield United), Anselmo Garcia MacNulty (PEC Zwolle), Bosun Lawal (Celtic), Alex Murphy (Newcastle United), Connor O’Brien (Accrington Stanley), Connor O’Riordan (Blackburn Rovers), Sean Roughan (Lincoln City)
Midfielders: Baba Adeeko (Wigan Athletic), Matt Healy (Royal Francs Borains), Joe Hodge (Wolves), Andrew Moran (Brighton & Hove Albion), Conan Noonan (Shamrock Rovers), Rocco Vata (Celtic)
Forwards: Sinclair Armstrong (QPR), Aidomo Emakhu (Millwall), Calum Kavanagh (Bradford City), Johnny Kenny (Shamrock Rovers, on loan from Celtic), Mark O’Mahony (Brighton & Hove Albion), Ollie O’Neill (Leyton Orient), Armstrong Oko-Flex (FC Zurich), Tony Springett (Norwich City)
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