“At least it was a clean sheet while I was on.”
John O’Shea was in top form following Ireland’s 2-1 win over the USA at Lansdowne Road.
The Waterford native bowed out of international football and, as he remarked to RTE, he was pleased that the scoreline was 0-0 when, after 34 minutes, he left the field to a standing ovation.
118 games and out but there was nothing but positivity from O’Shea following the game. He praised the way his teammates came back from 1-0 down to get the win and joked about Shamrock Rovers’ Graham Burke robbing Darragh Lenihan of a debut goal by tapping in his sot on the goal-line.
The game was decided in the 89th minute and it came from substitute Alan Judge nipping in to steal the glory from James McClean after his nice piece of skill to get into a shooting position.
"He has been through hell. He would have gone to the Euro's in 2016."
– Keith Andrews delighted for Alan Judge tonight.#IRLUSA #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/pFxIqtkyXj
— eir Sport (@eirSport) June 2, 2018
O’Shea spoke extremely well about the Irish matchwinner but suggested one player was not best pleased with the manner of his late goal.
“For Alan Judge to come back… all the stuff he’s been through and the suffering he has had with the long-term injuries.
“For him to get the goal, well, I think James is still giving out to him! He was wanting to finish it.”
McClean’s face when Judge took the ball off his toes as he was lining up a shot is a classic:
O’Shea was delighted he kept the tears at bay during his pre-match presentation (Waterford Crystal, of course) and during that wonderful ovation. He commented:
“But to finish like that and to have my family here; half of Waterford here; it’s something I’ll remember for a long time.”
Considering that the Ireland squad for the France and USA games had only 48 goals between them heading into the game [41 between Shane Long, Jon Walters and McClean], it was good to see other players stepping up and getting the scores.
Tougher tests await but Ireland will be reasonably pleased going into their summer break.
