Farewell to O'Shea as hope for the future provided by positive performances from several unheralded players

From Alex Dunne in the Aviva Stadium

No nonsense needed. Unfazed by the 32,300 fans rising to their feet, John O’Shea bid farewell to his international career with a characteristic lack of claptrap, reluctantly enduring the call to applause from the Aviva Stadium PA and two brief half-hugs on the long jog across the pitch. 

No John Terry-esque pandering to the audience, no messing with all twenty-one players. No nothing, really – just a handover of the captain’s armband to Seamus Coleman and a brisk run towards the bench. Darragh Lenihan arrived and the game continued. 

Simplicity is a lost art in the modern game, but there was ultimately no classier tribute to the character of O’Shea. The show must always go on and the 37-year-old – team player extraordinaire, willing cover of any position, fighter, leader – understood this most of all. 

The last link to the great generation of those 1990s youth successes was gone, but time waits for no man, team, or generation. Besides, there was a game to be played. 

And on they went, huffing and puffing through the phases, a mostly laboured contest of two sides struggling to find themselves after World Cup near-misses, searching for the new key  to recovery. 

For Ireland, the standout feature was structure; for the USA, youth. The curiosity of the three-man defence returning – and persisting after O’Shea’s withdrawal – as Martin O’Neill looked to turn back time and party like its 2003, versus the American youth movement attempting to sweep away the failures of their predecessors, to become the golden generation for a country obsessed with winning more than football itself. 

The differences stark, the philosophy the same - trust the process. And on this night, Ireland’s process was a little bit further along. 

Hope for the future was provided by the performances of several unheralded players. Lenihan had a fine second-half after an initially shaky and unsettled opening period, showing great maturity and confidence to turn things around after initially losing Bobby Wood for the sole US goal. 

Callum O’Dowda fought through flirtations with the game’s periphery to provide Ireland’s best attacking outlet. Declan Rice, the young West Ham midfielder, has adapted to the international level extremely quickly, and was the most assured presence in the centre of the park.



Rice is very much a rough diamond. His distribution still needs work, characterised by a careless hoof in O’Dowda’s general direction just after O’Shea’s withdrawal. Rice grew in the second half as well, shielding his backline well and covering a lot of ground to deny American Tyler Adams any space to settle on the ball. 

There were five former League of Ireland players who graced the pitch last night. In addition to Coleman, James McClean and Kevin Long, Enda Stevens came on for a promising cameo while Daryl Horgan provided great spark from the left after his introduction, and 

The headlines will be written for current League of Ireland man Graham Burke. 

The Shamrock Rovers attacker was involved from the word go, getting on the ball and looking to get things going. It didn’t look like just his second cap, and first start, as he linked well with Walters and stung the gloves of the shaky Bill Hamid. 

His goal, the first for a League of Ireland player since fellow Rovers alumni Ray Treacy in 1978 against Turkey, was lucky, but deserved after a good game which gave hope to the 24-year-old’s continued inclusion – even if O’Neill hinted a bigger stage than Tallaght Stadium would be required to justify it.



Alan Judge’s redemption was equally heartwarming and also made the headlines. Missing out on 20 months of action after a horrific broken leg, when right on the cusp of the Ireland starting XI, Judge’s passion flowed after smashing home the 90thminute winner. 

A release of emotion all the fans in the Aviva felt too as the Brentford man slid towards the Landsdowne Road end of the Aviva Stadium, fists clenched, yelling in relief. Game time at the Bees will be key, but Judge’s chance is not over yet. 

Nor is it for Bukre, Rice, Horgan, or any of the rest. On a night where the career of one of the greats came to an end, here was a lot more to look forward to for Ireland. 

 

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