SOMETIMES THE MOST obvious answer is staring you in the face.
John O’Shea’s ascension from Ireland’s U-21s to Stephen Kenny’s senior coaching staff earlier this week came eight months after John Eustace departed to become Birmingham City manager.
Speak to players who have worked with O’Shea since becoming a coach, first with Reading, then by Jim Crawford’s side, and most recently at Stoke City, and they will paint a picture of a popular, determined operator who is equally adept at figuring out tactical solutions as he is delivering a personal touch to make his point.
They will tell you about a calm, unassuming and insightful figure who doesn’t rely on the reputation he forged as a player under Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, or as an international centurion, to maintain respect.
Or, as one player who worked with him put it bluntly. “He could easily be a prick, but he’s not. The career he has had, what he had won and who he has played with in the game.
“He could easily look at some of us in a dressing room and think ‘what are they doing?’ But he treats you with respect and knows exactly how to speak to different players.”
O’Shea was given responsibility for Ireland’s attacking set plays during the European Championship qualifying campaign that came to a cruel end on penalties in the play-off to Israel.
As well as helping to guide defenders during shape work in sessions, some more attack-minded players Will Smallbone, who he also works with at Stoke while on loan from Southampton, have benefitted from his ability to break down things in the analysis room.
“He knows my game as good as anybody,” Smallbone told The42 last month.
His positive, upbeat demeanour is a feature around Stoke’s training ground as well during those international breaks, while players speak of a coach who will think nothing of going the extra mile and is always the first to offer help with additional work when a session has finished.
Before O’Shea’s appointment, Stephen Rice combined his role as opposition scout and analyst with added responsibilities on the training pitch.
Anthony Barry, whom Eustace replaced, was also mooted for a possible return having remained in dialogue with Kenny following his departure for Roberto Martinez’s Belgium staff ahead of the World Cup.
Kenny was in Qatar for the tournament and informal discussions with Barry left the door ajar, before ultimately following the Spaniard when he took charge of Portugal.
Before Barry had made clear his willingness to return, other candidates also emerged. Brian Barry-Murphy, head coach of Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad since the summer of 2021, was sounded out about the job.
However, the Premier League champions blocked any chance of further talks, enforcing a strict policy of key personnel not double jobbing outside of the organisation.
Barry-Murphy is a respected figure in the game and came on the radar of City while reinvigorating League Two side Rochdale with a style of play that fitted with the City hierarchy’s blueprint.
The Cork native took Brighton’s current No.1 goalkeeper Robert Sanchez on loan in 2019, and it was the work done there which prompted Gavin Bazunu to replace the Spain international the following season.
Kenny has spoken previously about wanting a No.3 who was on the cutting edge of the game on a day-to-day basis. It was the reason why Damien Duff was first appointed having impressed at Celtic, why Barry was a left-field appointment, and also Eustace, who had struck up a rapport with Kenny while on his travels in England and then spent two days in Dublin interviewing for the position.
Eustace’s departure was a blow to the Ireland manager, who was caught off guard when his third in command was given the top job at St Andrew’s last July.
Kenny had expected Eustace to move to Birmingham as No.2 to Mark Warburton – whom he worked under at Queens Park Rangers – which would have enabled him to continue in the role longer than the three months he was there.
Instead, when Warburton was asked by David Moyes to fill the void left by Stuart Pearce on his staff, Birmingham’s plans changed.
Eustace, a boy-hood Blues fan who is from the city, was given his dream job. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse. In the same month, O’Shea was also appointed to Stoke’s coaching staff by Michael O’Neill, and while the former Shamrock Rovers and Northern Ireland manager lost his job at the end of August, his replacement Alex Neil didn’t cut him loose.
“It’s been challenging in a sense, how quickly the change in management happened. Then you’re having to adapt again. It happened at Reading as well,” O’Shea told The42 last month.
“So you just have to speak to people, speak to the managers and hopefully they understand what you do, your role, and if that’s going to be OK for them.
“If not, there is no problem, there are no hard feelings. Thankfully the managers I’ve worked with, everything has been OK and we’ve been able to crack on.”
Given O’Shea’s ascension has come only a few weeks after the FAI finalised a deal for him as part of Crawford’s U21 ticket, eyebrows were naturally raised when the promotion was confirmed ahead of the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign which begins against France next month.
O’Shea has also stated his personal ambition to give a managerial role a crack in future, so that could well be another issue to consider further down the line.
However, it seems like the obvious solution given he bridges the gap perfectly between some of the more experienced, established players in the senior squad and the crop who progressed from the grade below over the last few years.
The likes of captain Seamus Coleman, James McClean, Jeff Hendrick and Robbie Brady all shared a dressing room with the 41-year-old when they were teammates, while the emerging figures who should form the backbone for the future – Bazunu, Dara O’Shea, Nathan Collins, Andrew Omobamidele, Jason Knight, Michael Obafemi, Troy Parrott and Evan Ferguson – know the influence he can have as a coach.
After an eight-month wait for the appointment, it will soon be time to get to work.