O’Shea set to take up offer as Ireland assistant

Waterford native John O’Shea is expected to be confirmed as the Republic of Ireland assistant manager in the coming days after it’s believed that the Ferrybank man has agreed to take up an offer from new boss Heimir Hallgrimsson to join his coaching staff.

Hallgrimsson has made no secret of the fact that he wanted O’Shea as part of his coaching ticket after he agreed to take over as national team manager following the exit of Stephen Kenny with an official announcement expected from the FAI.

O’Shea, who was capped 118 times for his country, held two meetings with the Icelander since his arrival into Ireland including a face-to-face one in Waterford, and after taken his time to mull over his options, it’s widely expected that he’ll re-join the senior set-up by the end of this week at the latest.

The former Manchester United star was named as the interim Irish boss following Kenny’s departure last year and he was in charge of the four friendlies played back in March and again in June. Although O’Shea expressed his interest in the first-team boss on a permanent deal, this wasn’t forthcoming.

Instead the FAI opted to appoint the more experienced Heimir Hallgrimsson after he had managerial spells at International level with Iceland and Jamacia, but he was keen to ensure that O’Shea would remain on board.

After receiving an invitation to remain on board as part of the backroom team, O’Shea, who has spent time at home appearing at events at his local Ferrybank soccer and GAA clubs as well as the recent Junior League awards, looks finally to have made his mind up to put his knowledge to the first-team.

Ireland will go into action later in the year in the UEFA Nations League when they take on England on September 7 before the qualifiers begin next year for the World Cup in 2026 where Ireland will be hoping to qualify for the finals in the USA, Mexico and Canada.

It’s been reported by the Irish Examiner that O’Shea will go in as number two where it’s also expected that both Glenn Whelan and Paddy McCarthy will remain as part of the coaching staff after they were part of O’Shea’s team for the recent friendlies.

The new regime kicks off against England before Greece completes the home double-header four days later. Finland are also in the four-team pool, with the series concluding for Ireland at Wembley on November 17. It’s an exciting period for Irish football with only six weeks to go before that opening fixture against England at the Aviva Stadium in the UEFA Nations League.