John O’Shea is not about to prematurely call time on his international career, writes Liam Mackey.

The Waterford man will earn cap number 111 when he lines out against the Netherlands at the Aviva Stadium tonight but, smiling broadly, yesterday declined to rise to the bait when asked if France 2016 might be his Ireland swansong.

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“I’m not going to get involved in anything like that, to say this is the last tournament or this or that,” he parried. “I am just enjoying the next game as it comes, and that’s all I am going to do going forward.

“We have qualified for a major tournament, and it’s a chance to enjoy that occasion and to grasp it and look forward to it, and whatever happens then, happens then.” Comparing and contrasting the current Irish squad on the eve of another Euro finals, with the squad of which he was a part going to what proved to be their doom in Poland four years ago, the 35-year-old said: “The atmosphere and enthusiasm around the group have got stronger and stronger throughout this campaign, and that’s something that is very similar, but has probably gone up a notch as well.

“It’s a different squad, different management and there are lots of different elements involved in it to make me believe that it’s going to be very different.”

O’Shea has been a fixture in O’Neill’s team when available but, this season, found himself cast in the role of understudy at club level as Sunderland’s latest Premier League survival mission came to a successful conclusion.

Asked if he was worried that his recent lack of game time might hamper his Euro chances, he replied: “I hope not. It’s one of those things: when I picked up the knock the lads got in and did their stuff and thankfully we stayed in the Premier League.

“Fitness, thankfully, has never been too much of a problem for me throughout my career. Obviously, when you are not in the team, you are doing extra work to stay on top of things.

“But look, I have played plenty of games throughout my career for club and country, (enough) to know that I’ll be ready if needed and when called upon.

“The big thing is to make sure everyone really enjoys these two games coming up, put in a good performance if possible and keep the positive feeling going.

“It’s a major tournament, these are very exciting times and everyone wants to be a part of it. The momentum is definitely building.”

This story first appeared in the Irish Examiner

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