JOHN O’SHEA KNOWS how it feels to be a young international footballer setting off on a Greek odyssey.
Now he’s urging Ireland’s rising stars to take their chance and show manager Giovanni Trapattoni that they belong in his plans for the future.
Ten Novembers ago, 21-year-old O’Shea was given his first Irish start by caretaker manager Don Givens in a friendly against Greece.
It was an unremarkable 0-0 draw, he reflects — “the weather was nice, that was about it” — but that Athens night was an important career milestone for the man who will lead out his country and win his 84th international cap against the same opposition tonight.
In the absence of Robbie Keane, the Waterford native captains a side given an injection of youth by Trapattoni. Of the starting XI Ciaran Clark, James McCarthy, James McClean and Robbie Brady are aged 23 or under, with David Meyler and the uncapped Conor Clifford named on the bench.
“It’s important for the youngsters to show their increased ability,” O’Shea says.
[It's a] chance that the manager’s given them on a very important stage to play for your country. They’ve shown good attitudes in training and they show that attitude on the pitch as well.
With Richard Dunne still recovering from injury, Clark partners O’Shea at the heart of the Irish defence. The two team-mates have already met on opposing sides in the Premier League this season and Clark made a big impression, O’Shea says.
“Clarkey’s got fantastic potential. He’s settled in to Aston Villa’s team this year. Obviously Richard’s had his few injury problems and [Villa manager] Paul Lambert has shown a lot of faith in him.
“We played against Aston Villa a few weeks ago and he was outstanding. We put them under a lot of pressure in the second half and Clarkey stood up to a lot of the pressure.
He’s shown increased maturity and as [Trapattoni] said, he wants to see if he can rise to the occasion internationally as well and I’ve no doubt he will. He’s a fantastic talent.
Winger Robbie Brady wins his fourth international cap tonight. The Dubliner re-joined Hull City last week for a second spell on loan from Manchester United but O’Shea feels that he has enough raw talent to catch Alex Ferguson’s eye and earn himself a shot at the Old Trafford first team.
“He definitely does but he also needs to get the run of games into him to show that. When he goes to Hull, he’s more than capable of showing his talent as he did last season. He got a few more chances then when he went back [to United] in pre-season and a couple of the League Cup matches.”
He adds: “Robbie’s a very intelligent lad. He’s under no illusions that he’s facing a very difficult task. He’s got a lot of ability and he’s got the talent to back it up so if he did get a chance in the Manchester United team, I’m sure he’d take it with both hands. As I said, he’s got a lot of competition.
“He’s got a fantastic left foot. He’s very creative as [Trapattoni] spoke about and he’ll get a chance to show that and hopefully take another step forward.”
Join Adrian Russell tonight for minute-by-minute coverage of Ireland v Greece live from the Aviva Stadium >
