No alarms no surprises as John O'Shea primed for Belgium clash

No alarms and no surprises; that's the word out of the Ireland camp ahead of Saturday’s friendly international against Belgium at the Aviva Stadium.

Interim head coach John O’Shea has a fully fit squad to work with after what he has described as an amazing week ahead of his first taste of international management.

In fact, O’Shea’s squad has actually been bolstered by the arrival of Ryan Manning into the squad; the Southampton man will give him options on the left side of defence for tomorrow’s fixture and Tuesday’s game against Switzerland.

"Ryan Manning has come in," said O'Shea, giving a squad update at the pre-match press conference. "He had a minor procedure at his club, thankfully it was a watching brief to how he was progressing and thankfully it's all gone well for him.

"He joined up with us yesterday, he will be into the squad straight away, and touch wood everyone else is fit and fighting well."

The Waterford man has been working with the squad all week and he has been impressed by the levels of commitment shown by the players, who he believes have bought into his plan for the double-header.

And while the familiarity of the squad allowed O’Shea to hit the ground running, having previously worked with the Ireland senior and Under-21 squads, he also feels there is a freshness to this international camp four months on from the end of the previous regime.

"Amazing, really good," said O’Shea, when asked how he had enjoyed the week with the players.

"But that's helped by the support staff around me too, and ultimately the players.

"They are the key to it, buying into it and showing the desire and attitude and application to be aggressive and take things on, they show that in training but it comes to the crux of it now in the