James McClean takes swipe at Stephen Kenny and backs John O’Shea for permanent manager’s role

McCarthy was the man at the helm in that qualifying campaign but stepped aside to make way for Kenny, who –due to contractual agreements – then took the reigns for the semi-final play-off clash which Ireland lost on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw.

Speaking on the RTÉ panel, former Ireland winger James McClean – who suggested he might be open to returning to the international fold if the call came – says he has been impressed with Ireland under John O’Shea, while seemingly having a dig at the previous man in charge, Stephen Kenny.

“It’s a trait (being hard to beat) that served us well. We qualified for two tournaments, Euro 2012 and 2016, and we got to a play-off under Mick McCarthy,” said McClean on RTE.

“If Mick had been in charge, we potentially may have got to three-in-a-row with that style of play.

“I think nowadays you can be sucked into the whole [idea of] Total Football and statistics. Yeah, we had 59% possession but a lot of it was across the backline and we lost the game.

“We’ve always been hard to beat and I think in the last few years we’ve gone away from that. That’s what we built our foundations on – being hard to beat and having a bit of nastiness about us, because you’re always going to get chances in a game.

“Hearing those (O’Shea’s) comments and seeing the last three games we’ve played, we have become hard to beat again.”