Initially, it was just the speaker and Sammie Szmodics, but this changed with the addition of Chiedozie Ogbene from Luton Town in late August and Jack Taylor, who recently received his first senior-level call-up. Dara O’Shea remarked on the growing Irish presence at the club, highlighting the camaraderie and the supportive environment.
Dara O’Shea said, “It’s quite funny actually. I signed, then Chieo [Ogbene] signed a couple of days after me. Obviously, Jack Taylor’s got the call-up too now, which is amazing. It’s nice to have the Irish contingent around me, obviously with the likes of Reg [Rene Gilmartin] in the coaching staff as well. It’s good. It’s quite hard, international football, to know what the manager wants and try to implement his way because you’ve got such a short window. It’s one of those things that’s going to take a bit of time. We haven’t had the best success in international football over the last couple of years – that’s something that we’re looking to change. We’ve got a really good group, a young group, that I think will go on to do great things. It’s about trying to buy into what the manager wants us to do there, get results and try to qualify for tournaments.”
There has been much discussion about in-form striker Liam Delap in recent weeks, and O’Shea is well aware that his Ipswich team-mate is eligible to play for Ireland.
Dara O’Shea said, “I’d love him to play for Ireland. But that’s down to him at the end of the day. I don’t want to fill him with any more stuff in his head. As long as he’s scoring goals for Ipswich and doing well here, I’m happy. Whatever he feels as a person, he’ll make that call. There’s nothing worse than trying to force a player into something that his heart and head isn’t set on, so he’ll make the right decision, I’m sure of that. He’s a big boy as well, as you can see. He’s got it all. Physically, he’s got that turn of pace, the strength. Obviously, he’s scoring goals, he knows where the back of the net is. As a striker, that’s the most important thing. As long as he can keep that consistency going in his game and keep the confidence alive in him, I think he’s going to have a great career. I’m really excited to be playing with someone like him, someone that I know will be putting the ball in the back of the net and take his chances like that. It’s great for the team and the club.”
For further context, the original content is available [here](https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/24645452.ipswich-town-dara-oshea-republic-ireland-liam-delap/?ref=rss).
