O'Shea has learned lessons well

Euro 2008, Group D:It's five years since Don Givens last took charge of the Ireland team and used the opportunity to hand John O'Shea his first start at senior international level.

At a press conference in Athens a day or two before the game, an English tabloid reporter sought to exploit the defender's youthful lack of experience by subjecting him to a barrage of questions about Manchester United so loaded that other journalists feared they might end up as collateral damage. Out of youthful politeness, O'Shea gave the hack enough to write the story he had come looking for.

These days O'Shea is more experienced and, for all his good humour, much less forthcoming when confronted by a table full of tape recorders. At one point while being repeatedly pressed on who he and the other players would like to see become the next manager he admitted that various squad members do have preferences.

O'Shea's reluctance to be drawn on the issue is one thing but more compelling evidence of how he handles the media comes when it's pointed out to him that Stephen Hunt has reacted positively to the idea of Terry Venables being appointed.

O'Shea, previously laid back but clearly composed, disintegrates into genuine, almost uncontrollable mirth and, after covering his face for a moment and shaking his head in mock disbelief, he observed: "You know, he's not from Waterford at all, he's from Laois."

Unlike Hunt, O'Shea has seen it all before and treats the changing of the managerial guard as just another matter of fact in a footballer's already eventful life.

It's even hard to judge whether he feels Steve Staunton was wronged. For while he admits the players did not perform as well as they are capable of over the course of the current campaign, and he acknowledges there is a case to be made for those in power taking the action they did on the basis of poor results.

"There are arguments for giving people time," he says. "There are arguments for saying that it is results that count no matter what. I'm not saying which is right; I'll leave you to decide that.

"It is tough on managers in that sense, though. You look at club managers. They are given less and less time to establish themselves. You look at all managers these days and it is success that they are dependent on."

At Old Trafford, of course, Alex Ferguson has, because of the huge success he has achieved, wielded power since long before O'Shea's arrival from Ireland. Only a matter of days ago, though, the Scot suggested that his present squad may be the best during his 21 years at the club.

Mention of his manager's remarks leave the player looking understandably pleased. "I think he meant that potentially we have the ability to be the best squad," he says.

"And I agree with him. But it won't matter unless we get doubles and trebles. Potentially we can do that because of the mix of flair and experience we have and it would be great to be a part of that."

O'Shea says he hopes Staunton's successor will bring new ideas and drive as well as the little bit of good fortune reckoned to have been absent from the Republic's efforts of the last few years, but it is hard to imagine anyone who impresses him more than Ferguson.

"You can see the desire, the enthusiasm when he comes out to the training ground on a cold, grey morning in Manchester. He comes out with a smile on his face.

"It is incredible and a credit to him given the success he has had. But he has the bit between his teeth because of the potential of the players he has."

He might be a good man for the FAI to call on, it is suggested. "He would do a great job . . . but I think he's very happy where he is."