John O’Shea begins his second stint as interim head coach as Ireland take on Hungary at the Aviva Stadium tomorrow night, and the former Manchester United man is hoping for clarity about the permanent position before the end of this international window.
Following Tuesday night’s fixture, O’Shea will take the squad to Portugal for the second international friendly, which takes place on 11 June, and while most of the big hitters from the continent will then make their journey to Germany for the Euros, the Ireland squad are idle for the rest of the summer.
Whether or not O’Shea will be in the position by the time the Nations League clash with England comes around in early September remains to be seen, however, the Waterford man is expecting to have a conversation with the FAI once these two games have been played.
“Let’s hope so,” said O’Shea, when asked whether he would expect some clarity before the end of this window.
“I think everyone, including myself, the staff the players, everyone would like clarity on it.”
FAI director of football Marc Canham has been around the squad this week, however, O’Shea revealed that the only conversation topics were the upcoming games.
“Marc was in and around it for a couple of days. It’s straightforward, the conversations have been about preparation and about the game. We’ll have conversations afterwards with anyone I expect I need to.”
Speaking at Monday’s pre-match press conference, O’Shea confirmed that Andrew Omobamidele was ruled out through injury, which sees Celtic’s Bosun Lawal – who spent the season on loan at Fleetwood Town – elevated into the senior squad.
“Unfortunately, we lost Andrew Omobamidele,” said O’Shea. “He got a little nick on his hamstring, so that was unfortunate.
“He has had a decent enough season with Nottingham Forest and established himself for a good bit and then was out of the team a little bit towards the end of the season, but he was one we were potentially looking to get some game-time into over the next two games.
“Because of Bosun being involved in training with us, he’ll come into the matchday squad, he had done very well at training, he’s settled in well so he’ll be in the matchday squad tomorrow.”
And looking ahead to tomorrow’s game against Hungary, O’Shea said that all his focus was on winning the game.
“My thought process is very simple to pick a team to go and beat Hungary,” said O’Shea.
“Whatever game we come in to, I’m always looking for good results. Belgium at home, we wanted to win. Against Switzerland at home, we wanted to win.
“And it is the same. We want to beat Hungary, we want to get the Irish team winning again, it’s as simple as that.
“Get the mindset right in terms of winning the games at home especially. So that’s the big thing for me. We got to get winning matches.”
Tomorrow’s opponents are in full Euros mode as they look forward to competing in this summer’s showpiece, taking on the hosts, Germany, Scotland and Switzerland.
Hungary are bringing good form into the tournament as they are currently on an extended unbeaten streak, and O’Shea is expecting a tough test at Lansdowne Road tomorrow night.
“They have qualified for the Euros and the mixture in their squad in terms of younger talented players, some in the Premier League that we would know about, and different players around Europe, and also the run of form that they are on, the teams they have faced.
“So we know it’s a good test for us, a really good test for us and one the players and the staff are looking forward to.”