Speaking exclusively with BOYLE Sports , former Republic of Ireland forward Kevin Doyle who made 62 appearances for the country has given his prediction ahead of the countries World Cup Playoff date this coming March and what the future lies in store for Assistant Manager John O'Shea.
The former Premier League striker has also given his assessment of Ireland's stars arguing that Troy Parrott is ready for a return to the league, Nathan Collins is ready for a club like Liverpool and that Caoimhin Kelleher could thrive at Chelsea.
Ireland MNT
Ireland's Play-Off Prediction
Now we have to go and do it. It felt like we'd qualified. It's not going to be easy, but they definitely have more confidence, more momentum. The country is behind them a lot more. There's more belief in them. They've got this far without any major injuries. I've seen that nothing has happened to a lot of those players.
Who’d have thought that we’d beat Portugal and Hungary ? There was less of a chance of them doing that than winning these play-offs, I think.
John O'Shea
I would say John O’Shea is probably going to wait and see until his play-offs are out of the way, and see what the situation is with Ireland .If it doesn't go to plan, yeah, I'd imagine it's time now. He's done lots of assistant jobs, he's worked under a few managers, and he's got a bit of experience under his belt. I would say it is probably time to go and become the number one somewhere.
I'd say he's basically waiting, and rightly so. You don't want to pass up this chance of possibly going to the World Cup. So, wait and see. And then you'll have the end of the season coming around quick, and there's always going to be plenty of clubs looking for managers. Picking the right one is tough. They're looking for a manager because things have gone wrong and things are in turmoil. So, you're going in there trying to turn things around, and when it's your first job, it's not easy. But that's the game, and it's the same for everyone.
Troy Parrott
Parrott To Fulham?
Troy Parrott is at a big club now, in the Dutch league, and he gets plenty of opportunities. Going to Fulham , you have a different mentality, and it's tougher. In that position, you don't get as many chances. But you have to try, don't you? You have to go there and hope. Getting 10 or 12 goals at Fulham is like getting 25 goals at Man City . So, if you can do that there, it opens up a window. Clubs will be watching him and thinking, if he gets 10, 12, or 14 goals there, he can get double that up here, or wherever, at the top four clubs.
So that's the mindset you have to have. I think he's definitely good enough to be in the Premier League . Watching him a year ago, I might have worried about his hold-up play and that type of game, but he fights for everything. Now it doesn't matter. You've seen him against big, strong centre-halves, and he doesn't give them a second. He's just constant, his energy, his work rate. He's a fabulous finisher.
He always had that as a kid, always scoring loads of goals. He was like a superstar in the Ireland age groups. And sometimes, you forget about the other side of the game, but he hasn't. He's really brought that to the table in the last 18 months. The goal for Ireland, the winning goal against Hungary, if you watch that back, we were all mentally celebrating at the time. We didn't really get to do a full analysis on it, just the header and the goal.
But if you watch him, he sprints to the far touchline to close down and then clear the ball, which enables it to come to us to put it into the box for Liam Scales' header for him to score. As that's all going on, as he's closing down on the touchline, in the 97th minute or whatever it was, he's also running back into the box. And his final inch of that run and work rate was to get a vital touch on the ball to give us a chance of going one-up.
It's just fabulous. You just can't, you can't put that into a player; they either have it or they don't. And he has it.
Nathan Collins
Collins Ready For Liverpool
A move to Liverpool ? I think Nathan Collins is ready. He has been around the lower clubs, he's had a number of transfers, he's building his experience, and he has plenty of international caps now. He's done all the groundwork, and if he gets a chance to move, it's time to move and on paper, he has everything, big, strong centre-half, good on the ball.
With Ireland , as a young player, a young centre-half, like all young centre-halves, he would have a mistake in him every game or two. But he seems to have got rid of that out of his game because that was the only thing holding him back.
With Ireland , he'd play really well, and then he'd give away a simple pass; he's a brilliant passer, and a little thing like that would give away a chance or an opportunity, but he seems to have eradicated that from his game. So, if that's the case and he can keep it like that, he's nailed on for a big club because he's all you want in a centre-half.
So, there's Liverpool , or wherever, but at the moment, they seem to be looking for it. Virgil van Dijk i s obviously getting older; we don’t know Ibrahima Konate’s situation. He's had a number of transfers, Collins , they're all around the £20million mark, he seems to have gone to three or four clubs in the space of four or five years, and it’s great experience.
Is Nathan Collins Ready For Liverpool?
Caoimhin Kelleher
Should Chelsea Consider Kelleher?
I think Caoimhin Kelleher could thrive at a club like Chelsea . I just can't believe Liverpool let him go. Even if he wanted to leave, they could have promised him the number one spot in a year or two. I'm sure they could have convinced him to stay. The transfer was also relatively cheap, money-wise, so I just don't get it. Is there something in training that they see and we don't?
When I see him play for Ireland , and I've seen him so many times now, and at club level, he's so cool, so calm, and brilliant on the ball. He makes match-winning saves; he's everything you need in a goalkeeper. When Manchester United are looking for a goalkeeper, though Liverpool probably wouldn't have sold him to them, or when anyone is looking for a goalkeeper, he has the right mentality.
He has the head on his shoulders that he needs, as well as being a very good goalkeeper. The pressure at a top club is massive, and from all I've seen from him, he has that composure. He's just amazing. Liverpool letting him go was a very strange decision to me.
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