Preview: O’Shea looks to control his own controllables

When John O’Shea took over as Republic of Ireland manager in March, he spoke about helping the team to return to winning ways.

This time around, the talk from the interim manager is more progressive, speaking with substance, plotting Ireland’s path back to qualifying for major tournaments.

By any means necessary, appeared to be the philosophy ahead of last week’s game, as O’Shea targeted a home win – home wins are critical for tournament qualification, he stressed.

And while the nature of the victory over Hungary did not need the side to resort to Machiavellian methods, the result was achieved off the back of an under-par performance – winning ugly, another sign of an improving team.

If winning the home games is key, then it makes sense for O’Shea to take a different approach to tonight’s match, as the general consensus states that when it comes to qualifying, you take three points on your own patch and aim for a point or better on the road.

Euro 2024 is on the horizon, but yet another edition of a tournament that will proceed without the Boys in Green, so this friendly fixture for Ireland in Portugal is a way to sign off for the season on a positive note.

Hungary at home and Portugal away could very well be a snapshot of future campaigns, as Ireland will have to compete as a lower seed as a result of their recent results, so it makes sense that O’Shea is painting that picture for the FAI in this latest audition for the permanent position.

Against the odds, perhaps, O’Shea performed admirably throughout that March window where his side looked enthused and energetic, motivated and marshalled.

A well-earned draw with Belgium was followed by a narrow defeat to Switzerland, and while the manager was unable to orchestrate a fightback having conceded midway through the first half, it was generally positives that O’Shea was bringing into the current window.

So with the Hungary result in the bag, that all-important momentum shift has finally started to move in the favour of this Irish team, and O’Shea will be anxious to build on it in Portugal tonight.

Early days, of course, but there does appear to be a more organised approach to the defensive set-up, with a noticeable lack of long-range shots from the recent opponents.

And while the three has been forced into a five a bit too often for many, it can perhaps be tolerated during these early efforts and due to the fact that all three sides faced are a lot higher in the world rankings.

Likewise, Portugal are ranked sixth in the world, compared to Ireland’s sub-standard 60th on the list, which shows the task at hand for O’Shea’s side tonight.

Recent games between the two teams in 2021 were quite close, as Ireland nearly won it in the Algarve – Ronaldo had the last laugh there – and they played out a competitive scoreless draw in Dublin.

However, the current side are arguably stronger, following a positive Euro 2024 qualifying campaign where they enjoyed a flawless ten out of ten to secure top spot with maximum points having scored 36 goals and only conceding two.

All the talk of Ronaldo in the build-up was a welcome distraction, no doubt, for O’Shea who will be hoping to remain under the radar and stifle the opposition tonight in the hope of leaving with a result.

And there is no doubt that this Ireland team will be buzzing by the late, late winner against Hungary, which has allowed them to bring a positive approach to training over the past seven days.

The end-of-season fatigue should have been addressed somewhat, which will lead to a more energetic performance, and while there will be changes to personnel, the manager is likely to maintain a strong core of the eleven who started in Dublin last week, while there will again be a big emphasis on the bench, which proved decisive in the Hungary victory.

The manager has been handed a clean bill of health coming into the game despite some concerns after last week’s outing.

Caoimhin Kelleher will surely start in goal as the manager looks to continue to shore up that defence, and he will have no hesitation calling on the Liverpool man who is looking better and better in every game he plays for the national team.

There was widespread praise for Jake O’Brien following his debut against Hungary after the Lyon defender came on at the break, but perhaps a player who impressed even more throughout his time on the pitch was Liam Scales, who was also introduced at the break, and offered real balance as a left-footed option on the left of the defence.

Shane Duffy was one of the players who picked up a knock last week, and he may start this one on the bench, which would see Ireland start as they finished with Dara O’Shea making up that trio.

Matt Doherty was also withdrawn at half-time, with Seamus Coleman moving over into that right wing-back position.

The captain was at his brilliant best in that second 45 and is surely the first name on the team-sheet these days, however, the fact that Josh Cullen sat alongside the manager at the pre-match press conference could mean that Coleman will sit this one out.

It’s an unlikely scenario, however, as there has been seven days to recover and it is the last game of the season, so surely Coleman starts as long as he is 100% fit to play.

The left wing-back role was thought to be a toss-up between Robbie Brady and Enda Stevens, however, Callum O’Dowda really impressed off the bench and could well sneak into the starting XI tonight as he offers that explosive pace out of the back line, which will provide welcome respite in a game that is expected to be played mostly in the Ireland half.

Josh Cullen and Will Smallbone are already looking like a perfect partnership in midfield, however, the manager has some big calls to make when it comes to adding attacking options to a defence-minded formation.

Finn Azaz was tasked with linking play between midfield and attack last week, and while he was showing consistently, and received praise from the manager after the game, there is a suggestion that O’Shea will bring Jason Knight back into the side.

Energy will be key, as it was in previous games against Portugal where Chiedozie Ogbene’s pace caused real issues for the opposition and again allowed Ireland to move the play well up the pitch.

Ireland will need a similar outlet tonight in Ogbene’s absence and O’Shea will surely ask Sammie Szmodics and Adam Idah to play that thankless role in a game where the visitors look set to spend large chunks of the game without the ball.

Idah and Szmodics will do well to last beyond the 60-minute mark where they will be pressing and chasing, which puts a real emphasis and importance on the attacking options on the bench.

Michael Obafemi will also bring that energy for the final stages, however, the likelihood is that Ireland will probably need to score at least one goal to take something out of this fixture.

And it could all come back to Troy Parrott, once again, as the on-loan Spurs striker enjoyed a fine finish to the season, from a personal point of view, scoring two hat-tricks in the closing games, before grabbing the winner against Hungary.

A touch fortuitous with the finish at Lansdowne Road last week, however, the nature of the goal will only add to his growing confidence, and given the opportunity tonight, there is no doubt that Parrott could provide a repeat performance.

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