All eyes on Ronaldo as O’Shea looks to gain momentum

John O’Shea is hoping for two things in tomorrow’s game against Portugal; that his side can build on the momentum of the Hungary win, and that Cristiano Ronaldo is rested.

The Ireland interim head coach faced the media on Monday on the eve of their final fixture of the season as they take on the Euros-bound Portuguese in Aveiro.

And unsurprisingly it was O’Shea’s former team-mate Ronaldo who dominated the conversation as he gets set to depart for Germany with the national squad.

Ronaldo famously bamboozled the Manchester United defence, including John O’Shea, in a pre-season fixture back in 2003, which led to Alex Ferguson signing the 18-year-old prospect.

The pair would spend six seasons together at United, where Ronaldo evolved into a world class footballer, moving to Real Madrid, winning the Champions League a further four times, while securing five Balon d’Or awards.

On top of that, Ronaldo has represented his country with distinction for two decades, earning over 200 caps and guiding Portugal to the European Championships in 2016.

“I do,” said O’Shea, when asked if he recalled his first encounter with Ronaldo back in that Lisbon fixture.

“Slightly jet-lagged, but I do remember,” added O’Shea, referring to the fact that the team had just returned from America ahead of the game.

But O’Shea added that it was abundantly clear that Ronaldo had everything it takes to become a world beater, and believes that the stint that he had at Manchester United was crucial in his development.

“Look, we were fully aware of his talent, obviously, that night in Lisbon.

“But the player that arrived into Old Trafford, into Carrington, I’ve mentioned before many times, his dedication in terms of improving his technique every week, every day…

“Look, there was some tough challenges, not only in terms of the opposition he was facing, but also in the training matches. We were making him fully prepared for what the Premier League was going to be, the tests he was going to have to face.

“It wasn’t a surprise to me to see what he’s gone on to do because we saw how special a player he was very early.

“As a team-mate, he was brilliant because of the character he was too, the relationship he had with everyone and it was superb to see him develop. The player that arrived and the player who left, you could see the difference, where he was wanting to go and continued to go.”

Closer to home, it was the quality of Ronaldo that prevented Ireland from securing a vital away win during the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Leading 1-0 late in the game, thanks to a John Egan header, Ronaldo would conjure up the equaliser and then the winner either side of the 90-minute mark to wrap up the victory on the Algarve.

But with the Euros so close to starting, O’Shea is hoping that he will not see his former team-mate stepping out onto the Aveiro turf tomorrow night as his side look to build on the win in Dublin last Tuesday night.

O’Shea’s side scored a late winner to earn a morale-boosting win in Dublin against a Hungary side that had not been beaten in 14 games, and now the interim boss is hoping for another result, which would greatly improve his chances of being offered the job on a permanent basis.

And in the warm-weather conditions of the Portugal summer, O’Shea expects his squad to be fully utilised once again to account for the fact that many of his players finished their league campaign over a month ago.

“It’ll be a little bit warmer in Aveiro than it was in Dublin, and we saw how we needed the players to come on and impact the game against Hungary,” said O’Shea.

“It’s what we want from the team in terms of the stage of the season and it will be the same tomorrow, whatever team is selected.

“It will be important that the people who are coming on are finishing the game strong, with ideas, like we did the other night and we got our rewards from it.

“That’s the key message. It’s a different test, but we have to take some of the momentum we got against Hungary into the Portuguese game.”

And as for Ronaldo beyond the final whistle tomorrow night?

The Ireland manager expects his old pal to have a positive impact on the upcoming tournament in Germany, where Portugal are drawn alongside Czech Republic, Turkey and Georgia.

“I’ve no doubt whatever plans or rotations Portugal will have to use him to maximise how far they get in the tournament, I think Ronaldo will be a key part of that, definitely,” said O’Shea.

Watch Portugal v Republic of Ireland on Tuesday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra from 7.40pm