Dara O’Shea says ‘unfair’ coverage didn’t help Ireland’s cause against Israel

The recent Nations League fixtures against Israel at neutral venues in Hungary and Serbia, when Gavin Bazunu withdrew from the Republic of Ireland line-up and Heimir Hallgrímsson opted to keep Finn Azaz on the bench, have prompted an ongoing review by the Football Association of Ireland.

Bazunu is unavailable, due to injury, for Saturday’s Group B3 game against Austria in Linz and next Tuesday’s match against Kosovo at the Aviva Stadium, while Southampton midfielder Azaz is in the squad.

The obvious move for the FAI would be to put the Israel matches down to a unique experience and move on, yet they continue to sift through the wreckage of Debrecen and Bačka Topola.

Hallgrímsson made a vague reference to “enemies” at his squad announcement last week, noting his annoyance with leaks into the public domain, and on Wednesday Dara O’Shea accused the Irish media of “unfair coverage” around the Israel games.

To recap, following the 1-0 defeat to Kosovo in Pristina on Thursday, September 24th, O’Shea revealed that the players would meet to discuss how to handle the Israel tie in the Hungarian city of Debrecen on September 27th.

Before boarding the chartered flight to Hungary on the Friday, O’Shea said the entire squad agreed to fulfil the fixture. By the Saturday morning, however, Bazunu withdrew on the principle that “the killing of innocent people is wrong”.

FAI chief executive David Courell subsequently stated that a player vote resulted in a “significant majority” to play a match that Ireland went on to win 3-0.

O’Shea, speaking after training in Abbotstown on Wednesday, spoke about how he coped with the crisis as Ireland captain in place of the injured Collins.

“We had that conversation in Pristina after the game before we flew to Debrecen and we were all together as one that we were going to play the game,” he said.

“Obviously Gavin made his decision after that, and we fully respected his decision. At the time, we had a lot of people willing and wanting to put on that green shirt for Ireland and we felt that was the best thing for us to do. I’m really proud of everyone’s decision and how everyone acted in that.

“Obviously it’s a situation that none of us had been in before so we were all trying to navigate it as best as possible. I did feel that some of the media coverage was unfair at the time, but I’m proud of how we came through that situation.”

The Ipswich Town skipper did not elaborate on the specific part of the coverage he found unfair. The FAI communications department has been asked about any issue they may have had with the reporting. The review is ongoing.

O’Shea conceded that the last international window, when Ireland picked up five points from four games, was the most challenging period of his career.

“I think so. Obviously, you have injuries and stuff like that, but it was definitely something you haven’t faced and didn’t know what to do.

“You learn a lot about other people. You learn a lot about the group, you learn a lot about the country and how people feel about things as well.

“I think for us, it’s always been important that when we step into camp, we have such a short period of time together, that we fully lock-in. We fully commit to focus on qualifying for tournaments and to win football games.

“When you have stuff going on like that as well, it makes it challenging for sure. And you’ve got to step up to it. I don’t think you can shy away from it. I think you saw that in some of our performances.

“We came away from the window probably disappointed with our points and what we got, but there was definitely moments of promise there, moments for us to improve on. If we can win our [last] two games, we have a great chance of topping the group. That’s our full focus.”