O'Shea hoping in-form strikers can fire Ireland to win

John O'Shea is hoping that Ireland’s in-form strikers can fire the national side to a UEFA Nations League play-off victory against Bulgaria.

Ireland’s first competitive football of 2025 sees Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side face off against the Bulgarians with a place in League B of the Nations League up for grabs.

Defeat over the two legs would see Ireland relegated, while an aggregate victory will see the side retain their current status as a tier-two nation for the European competition.

The bigger picture of World Cup qualification comes later in the year, but the Ireland assistant head coach is looking forward to a positive start to the year to set the tone for the autumnal campaign.

Troy Parrott and Adam Idah are two players who have shown form in front of goal for their clubs this season.

AZ Alkmaar’s Parrott has scored 12 league goals in 24 appearances, and added another four in European competition, while Idah has 14 goals this season for Celtic.

And O’Shea is hoping that they can transfer that confidence into the green shirt for this week’s double header.

"We want to go on a positive run of games before September," said O’Shea, speaking to the media in Dublin on Monday. "You don't want that [relegation] to be the case.

"It’s a huge plus," he added, when asked about the form of Parrott and Idah. "Goalscoring is obviously the hardest thing in the game, so it’s very important when you have that confidence.

"They are two players playing in Europe as well, and Adam has another fight on his hands to get that starting spot in the Celtic team, he is obviously coming on and affecting games. That’s an ongoing one for himself.

"But the most important thing is they are coming into us fit and well, and obviously confident from scoring goals and playing well in Europe and playing on big occasions. The more that happens for Irish players, the better."

John O'Shea is expecting a tough test in Bulgaria

One player who does not currently have those aforementioned attributes is young striker Evan Ferguson, who is having a difficult season in England.

Struggling for minutes in the first half of the season, after returning from injury, Ferguson has gone out on loan to West Ham United in search of form, however, he has yet to make the desired impact for his new club.

Ferguson has been central to Hallgrimsson’s plans thus far, starting the last four games, and scoring the winning goal against Finland in November, however, other players may have climbed above him in the pecking order throughout the four months since the last international window.

"It always is the case of any player that comes into the squad when you are trying to assess everything, can he start, how is he going to impact a game?" said O’Shea, when asked about Ferguson’s potential involvement.

"We’ll see what happens over the course of these next two games, but he looked very sharp in training this morning."

And speaking on Ferguson’s lack of gametime at West Ham, O’Shea pondered: "The Premier League teams, there is big competition for places and obviously they probably felt as well that there was a little niggling injury where they had to build up fitness too.

"Hopefully that will improve towards the end of the season and we will see Evan get more starts for the club. That will help massively.

"But that’s a classic example of a learning curve. And he has got to, simple as, knuckle down in training and prove to us this week and to West Ham when he goes back that he deserves a start, and that he deserves to be in the team.

"If he gets the chance, whether it’s five minutes, 20 minutes or half-an-hour, you show why you should be in the team. It’s a combination of all of that."

Looking ahead to the game on Thursday, O’Shea is expecting a tough task from the third-tier side, who have enjoyed an impressive run of form, while proving tough to penetrate.

"Very competitive," he said. "You see their run of results and it's tight games, clean sheets and not many goals scored in some of their games.

"Obviously, there is that one strange result, shall we say, against Northern Ireland (losing 5-0), but very competitive and a good test, a proper test, but one we're well able for."

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Last week’s squad announcement was overshadowed by Hallgrimsson being grilled in relation to his League of Ireland comments, where the manager attempted to clear the air in relation to what he said about Shamrock Rovers players gaining career changes off the back of their European exploits.

And O’Shea was also asked about external issues, most notably regarding former coach Glenn Whelan’s criticism, and whether there was a disconnect between the FAI and the League of Ireland.

"Never when anyone turns up to play for Ireland, no," he added, when asked if he has ever had a problem with the attitude or conviction of the players.

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion," he added, regarding his former international team-mate. "When you get a couple of bad results, or you get a different performance that everyone has an opinion about it, these things are respected but we keep things tight in house as well.

"I think it is one of those things when the boss said that when the national team is doing well and the League of Ireland teams are doing well, that is what we all want. Why do we have to be on different pages?"

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