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John O’Shea offered the Ireland fans a glimpse of what the future could be like if the former Manchester United man was handed the permanent position as national team manager.
Taking on the world number four ranked side – albeit in a friendly international – O’Shea sent out a side capable of competing against a superior side, while offering instruction on how to also pose a threat against quality opposition.
The opening minutes of the contest offered an early insight into the thinking behind the man who has only been working in assistant roles up to last night’s fixture.
A starting eleven not too dissimilar to what went before during the Stephen Kenny era, with Sammie Szmodics the only real addition to the set-up, and continued the team’s trait of trying to play ball and work it out from defence.
O’Shea’s side, however, appeared to have a touch more of that old school directness to the play, while also testing the players to prove themselves a bit more on the competitive front.
Evan Ferguson had no more than a 50:50 chance of taking control of possession and building an attack when Robbie Brady popped that ball into his feet with less than five minutes on the clock.
And while the big striker may be lacking confidence in front of goal, there were no issues with his touch, technique and tenacity as he held off two defenders to gain control and lay the ball off perfectly for Josh Cullen.
Seconds later Ireland should have had the ball in the back of the net, however, on this occasion, Chiedozie Ogbene chose the wrong option, attempting to beat the keeper at his near post rather than square a simple ball to Seamus Coleman, who was arriving like a train, unmarked in front of an empty net.
There also appeared to be less emphasis on maintaining possession, rather being more effective when on the ball, and it was perhaps more impressive to watch O’Shea’s side adapt to their surroundings when Belgium took control of the football after about ten minutes of the contest.
Ireland dropped deep, employing a five across the edge of the box with an interesting partnership of Josh Cullen and Will Smallbone sitting in front – the front three were also working hard off the ball, but only in the right moments, and not appearing to waste energy.
It was so engaging and enlightening to watch the young trio in the middle of the defence learn on the job, as they worked out how best to occupy the experieced RB Leipzig front man, Lois Openda, the lively right-sided attacker Johan Bakayoko and the two Premier League stars threatening from deep, captain Youri Tielemans and Leandro Trossard.
An incredibly experienced and technically excellent quartet to cope with, but they worked it out among them with Nathan Collins and Andrew Omobamidele keeping tabs on Openda and Tielemans coming from deep, while Dara O’Shea was working in cohoots with Robbie Brady to nullify the Bakoyoko threat – Seamus Coleman looked back to his best leaving Trossard little more than scraps to feed off.
On another night, Josh Cullen might have been found loitering with intent right in front of the three, distracted by the very deep Tielemans, however, the message from behind must have been loud and clear, leaving the Burnley man and new midfield partner Smallbone free to maraud around the midfield and close the route through the middle.
The visitors played right into O’Shea’s plan as Ireland were primed to pounce into that space behind once the opportunities presented themselves.
And while there were not too many slick moves from front to back in that opening half, Ireland’s outlets in attack were drawing fouls and winning vital free-kicks deep inside the Belgium half.
Ireland’s set-piece game has failed to flourish in recent years, however, with Smallbone and Brady standing over every free-kick, it put a question mark in the Belgium defence as to whether it would be swinging in or out from the right and left footers.
In the 26th minute, it was Brady’s left foot delivery deep into the box that led to the penalty kick, and while O’Shea’s side did not seize the moment, it added another to the growing list of chances created, which also augers well for the future.
Perhaps one of the most cherished moments of the first half came just before the break when we saw a throwback to a Niall Quinn-Robbie Keane moment when Caoimhin Kelleher drilled a free straight up the middle for Ferguson to flick with Szmodics racing onto the loose ball – another missed chance, but a goalscoring chance none the less.
And it was just this accumulation of the small moments that all build up into something called a performance, and they kept coming after the break.
Just 13 seconds as it turned out as we found out that Ireland had worked on that little routine from the kick-off that sent Brady down the left and a flying Ferguson heading just over, stretching just a touch as that incredible delivery came in from the flank.
O’Shea’s composed defence of the first half had to roll up their sleeves and deal with an altogether new-look and new-style front four with the slippery Jeremy Doku added to the left, while the flying Dodi Lukebakio was employed on the right. Former Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi was also added, just to emphasise the strength in depth of this Belgium squad who will be looking to go far in this summer’s Euros.
But the defence would not crumble, as Coleman led the fight, taking a personal interest in denying the remarkable Manchester City winger Doku.
And again Ireland were primed to counter, with one particular move really showing the potential for the tactic.
Staying wide on the right as the play moved across the pitch, Ogbene was found in space and his incredible speed suddenly had Belgium backtracking into their box, but not before Smallbone had joined the attack and slipped it to Szmodics for another chance on goal.
In the end, neither side could find a way through and Ireland had Caoimhin Kelleher to thank for making a vital save 15 minutes from time.
The Liverpool goalkeeper’s inclusion was just one more O’Shea decision that appeared to pay off, and while there is every chance that Gavin Bazunu would also have saved Thomas Meunier’s low drive to the corner, it just allowed the new manager to show that he was not averse to making a big call.
A comfortable clean sheet in the end for Ireland and while that much-sought victory did not materialise, it has given the FAI a lot of food for thought as to the future direction that they are planning for the senior men’s side.
O’Shea ticks all the boxes for the stated aim of the FAI, which begs the question as to why they appear set to appoint someone else in April.
Part II of the O’Shea experiment on Tuesday against Switzerland looks set to serve up even more reasons to allow him to continue on in the role beyond this interim period.
As for O’Shea, he would surely scoff at the concept of this being an audition for the senior role, or a test of his managerial credentials.
From the moment that the Waterford man was unveiled in the role last month, he has been nothing short of revelatory; and the overall impression is that the only person that O’Shea is trying to prove something to is himself.
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