Picking up away points key, says O'Shea

Mary Hannigantalks to the Manchester United defender who is expecting a hostile reception for the opening game against Armenia

WITH 10 of his international team-mates failing to see any first-team action for their clubs over the weekend, and three of them at the centre of transfer speculation as the deadline loomed, John O’Shea had the look of a contented man in Malahide yesterday, relieved not to be spending his first day on Irish duty waiting on an agent’s call.

A one-club man, never having to uproot and start all over again in unfamiliar surroundings. “I know I’m very lucky, long may that continue,” he said. “And I’m going to work hard and give myself every opportunity I can to stay at a place where you should really only excel as a footballer because the facilities and the people. Everything is in place for you to improve, become better and succeed. Why wouldn’t I want to stay there?”

If he had the inside track on Shay Given, Robbie Keane and Liam Lawrence’s club situations he wasn’t, naturally enough, sharing the news, just opting to sympathise with them and other team-mates finding themselves largely watching from the sidelines since the new Premier League season got under way.

In contrast, O’Shea has played every minute of Manchester United’s three league games so far. “Hopefully the manager doesn’t see the need to rotate,” he smiled. He is, then, relishing full fitness again after missing much of the last campaign.

But is it a worry that so many of his Irish team-mates have struggled to get first team football since the start of the season?

“I don’t think so, no, most of those lads have been involved in pre-season games, so even if they’ve missed out on the first few weeks of the Premier season I can’t see it being a problem.

“You’re still working very hard at this stage and you don’t really ease off when the games start, the intensity is still the same. So, fitness wise, there definitely isn’t a problem.”

All thoughts, then, are focused on the opening two games of the Euro 2012 qualifying game, against the lowest-ranked nations in the group – Armenia on Friday and Andorra the following Tuesday. “You don’t want to look too far ahead,” said O’Shea, “but that’s a great chance for us to get six points from two games. You’re going in to the October games then full of confidence.

“Look, we know that if we play well and get that bit of luck, we should come out of Armenia with three points.

“But if we don’t get our minds right from the start we’ll be in for a hell of a shock because these so-called lesser teams have a habit of making us look very stupid.

“It feels as if some people are taking it for granted, that we’ll get the six points, but we couldn’t have got a trickier draw than Armenia away in the first game.

“They’ve caused a few surprises against quality opposition not too long ago, like Belgium and Poland.

“We know we’re going to have to put in a very good performance, especially over there. It’s going to be very hot. I’m sure they’ll make it as hostile as possible for us, in how they approach the game tactically and physically.

“But we’re more than experienced in going away to tough games. The away performances in the last campaign were an improvement on what went before. Still, they could have been better. And picking up points away from home is definitely going to be the key to automatic qualification.

“Our home form, well, we know we can beat anyone at home. Once we can stick to being unbeaten at home and winning the majority of those games, it’s going to come down to the away games. Get them right and, needless to say, we have a chance.”

O’Shea will be past the 30 mark when this qualifying campaign reaches its conclusion, but, he insists, he has given no thoughts to his plans at that point, not tempted – for now at least – to follow the example of United team-mates Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, both of whom credited their retirement from international football with extending their club careers.

“Well, you never know, it’s definitely a possibility when you see how they excelled because of the rest they’ve got.

“It’s a simple factor, but I don’t see it ever being a problem for me, purely because I’ll always be of the persuasion . . . well, at the moment I’m saying this . . . no, I would be very confident,” he smiled, “of Ireland retiring me, rather than me retiring Ireland”.