‘It’s the Republic of Ipswich’ – O’Shea on Town’s Irish contingent and Liam Delap

His move to Portman Road - the Blues' penultimate signing of the transfer window - took the number of Irish internationals at the club up to two at the time. Now, it's not just him and Sammie Szmodics, but also Chiedozie Ogbene, who joined from Luton Town at the end of August, and Jack Taylor, who earned his first call-up at senior level earlier this month. “It’s quite funny actually. I signed, then Chieo [Ogbene] signed a couple of days after me. It started to look like it was becoming the Republic of Ipswich, which is funny," O'Shea laughed. SIGN-UP! Get five months of all our Town content for just £5 - or 40% off a whole year! “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.” O'Shea's experience of international football hasn't been perfect. Handed his senior debut by Stephen Kenny in 2020, he found himself playing under John O'Shea a few years later. Now, he's playing for Icelandic boss Heimir Hallgrímsson, who claimed his first win as manager on Thursday evening when the Boys in Green beat Finland 2-1 in the Nations League in Helsinki. O'Shea played at right-back in Thursday's 2-1 win against Finland (Image: Steve Waller) O'Shea is hoping that everything will begin to click for them on the pitch, especially with the plethora of young talent in the squad. “It’s obviously a new manager that we’ve had coming into the international set-up," he explained. "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's been a lot of talk about in-form striker Liam Delap in the last few weeks, and O'Shea is well aware that his Ipswich team-mate is eligible to play for Ireland. “I’d love him to play for Ireland," the 25-year-old admitted. "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. England Under-21 international Liam Delap is eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland (Image: Steve Waller) “That’s down to him and his family.” Asked about how tough it is to face the powerful striker in training, O'Shea said:   "It’s not easy. 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.”