JOHN O’SHEA has defended the Ireland players from criticism from his former team-mate Glenn Whelan, saying there is ‘never’ an issue with their attitudes on international duty.
After Heimir Hallgrimsson lost his first two games in charge in September, Whelan did not hold back in his role as a TV pundit.
He questioned whether they cared enough, saying they had become used to losing and needed to be replaced by players from the Under-21 squad.
That did not go down well, given Whelan — who had worked alongside O’Shea during his spell as caretaker — had scouted the game between Finland and Greece for the FAI.
He was not used again but he stood by the criticism in an interview this month and added that, from his time with the squad, there were certain players ‘very lucky to be playing for their country’.
O’Shea admitted he had not spoken to Whelan — now interim boss at Wigan Athletic — about his views but insisted there was no issue with players’ attitudes.
He said: “Never when anyone turns up to play for Ireland. No.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion. When you get a couple of bad results or you get a different performance, everyone has an opinion about it. These things are respected but we keep things tight in-house as well.”
The former defender gave a diplomatic answer when he was asked about his employers’ treatment of another former team-mate, Colin Healy.
Healy was let go as assistant to Eileen Gleeson after she was not kept on as manager of the women’s team.
But he was not mentioned in the press release that announced her departure, while he claimed that he received a verbal assurance from chief football officer Marc Canham that he would be kept on, when he was weighing up other job offers, something the FAI denied.
O’Shea said: “It’s one of those things, isn’t it? It’s a shame how it turned out.
“The communication side of it obviously — Colin obviously feels that it wasn’t put across to him right at the end. You have to respect that.
“It is a case that these things happen in football. We have to move on from it. We have to learn from it as well.”
The treatment of Healy, whose wife Kelly passed away last April, has drawn sharp criticism from Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley and Shelbourne’s Damien Duff.
Duff, yet another former team-mate of O’Shea, also suggested it was a measure of the national team’s low stock that a friend of his laughed when he offered him a ticket for the home game on Sunday.
The ex-Chelsea winger claimed he only found out last week that Bulgaria were Ireland’s opponents.
But O’Shea said: “I’m fairly sure deep down that Damien knew who Ireland were playing.”
