John O'Shea 'more than ready' to manage Ireland following stint as interim head coach

Ireland's narrow defeat to Switzerland has done nothing to dampen the desire of John O’Shea to manage the national team on a full-time basis.

The Waterford native insisted after the game that he is "more than ready" to manage the side as his role of interim head coach comes to an end.

O'Shea was handed the role for the March double-header against Belgium and Switzerland, while the FAI were waiting to announce a permanent replacement in April.

But in the meantime, O’Shea admits that he has got a taste for the role and has thrown his heart and soul into the job over the past four weeks, building strong relationships with the squad, while proving insightful and intelligent when speaking about his overview of what is required to manage the national team.

Since taking over at the end of February, there has been growing support for the new man to be handed the reins full-time, and that was reinforced during and after the team’s performance against Belgium on Saturday.

Taking on two teams that have qualified for this summer’s Euros, as well as both sitting inside the top 20 ranked sides in the world – Ireland are 62nd – it has been quite the baptism of fire for the rookie manager, however, he has come through the experience relatively unscathed.

A result tonight against the Swiss would have really turned the heat up on the FAI to offer O’Shea the job, however, the team were undone by a first-half Xherdan Shaqiri free-kick, and despite having 70-odd minutes to turn it around, the visitors held on for the win.

"My instinct would be that I’m more than ready and capable to be a manager," said O’Shea, speaking at the post-match press conference. "I think that’s something that we will discuss later on.

"But for me the full focus was on the