John O’Shea brought in as Republic of Ireland assistant coach

From Damien Duff to John O’Shea, Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny has appointed a fourth assistant coach since taking over the senior job in April 2020.

O’Shea is effectively promoted from Jim Crawford’s Ireland under-21 set-up and he will continue his day job as Stoke City first team coach.

“I have watched John’s progress closely as he made a positive contribution throughout his time with the under-21s,” said Kenny. “He will now make the transition into the senior coaching team where he knows the team well and we look forward to John joining our staff for the Latvia and France matches in March.”

O’Shea comes in as team trainer, working alongside Kenny, assistant manager Keith Andrews and opposition analyst Stephen Rice.

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“It was always an honour to play for my country and put on the green shirt so to join the coaching staff and work with the current group of players and staff is an amazing opportunity for me,” said O’Shea, capped 118 times for Ireland over 17 years while also making playing just shy of 300 appearances for Manchester United and Sunderland. “We’ve got a really exciting group of players, a good mix of youth and experience, and some fantastic fixtures to look forward to this year so I can’t wait for it to begin and to get to work with the squad and staff.”

The 41-year-old recently completed his Uefa Pro Licence, and is working through his Uefa executive master programme for former international players.

Duff, the current Shelbourne manager, left the role after seven months, in January 2021. Replaced by Anthony Barry, the Chelsea coach made such an impression that Roberto Martinez head hunted him to the Belgium set-up before the World Cup. Barry has subsequently followed Martinez to Portugal.

John Eustace arrived next, but this was a short-lived appointment as he was appointed Birmingham City manager last summer.