O’Shea: World Cup Play-Off Defeat a Massive Disappointment
Monday, 30th Mar 2026 14:16
Blues skipper Dara O’Shea says not making it to the World Cup is a “massive disappointment” for him and his Republic of Ireland teammates, but they need to put in a solid performance that they and their fans can be proud of when they take on North Macedonia in a friendly on Tuesday evening.
An Irish side featuring O’Shea and Jack Taylor, as well as on-loan Blues forwards Chieo Ogbene and Sammie Szmodics, was beaten 4-3 on penalties by Czechia following a 2-2 draw in Prague on Thursday in their play-off semi-final.
That meant that rather than a one-off tie against Denmark at the Aviva Stadium for a place at the finals, the Boys in Green will instead face the North Macedonians, who were defeated 4-0 by the Danes in their play-off match, in a friendly on Tuesday evening.
“It’s a massive disappointment for us as players and I think the fans as well that we don’t have that game, the opportunity to go to the World Cup,” O’Shea said at a press conference this morning.
“But for us, we’re professionals and you’ve got to move onto the next game and I think the next game is really important for us as a group.
“Everything we’ve created now and the feeling we have in the group, it’s important to go out tomorrow with a solid performance that we’re proud of and that people can be proud of, too. Continue on our run, I suppose.
“We spoke about us building towards Euro 2028 now and it’s important that we keep going in the right direction.
“I feel like we have been and that confidence in the group, it’s important to keep it there, keep pushing on and building, and growing as a team, like the boss has said.”
Reflecting further on their exit, the Dubliner added: “It was massively disappointing. You have aspirations and hopes and dreams of getting to a World Cup and, obviously, we wanted to have that in our hands Tuesday night, having a game to get to the World Cup.
“This is football that we’ve all experienced — disappointments and different things that haven’t gone our way.
“It’s important to bounce back with the right mentality now and not forget all the good that we’ve done and keep building on that.
“We’ve had closure on that game and we’re looking forward to the next one now. We can’t keep looking back and dwelling on that because nothing can change. What’s done is done, this is football and we move on.
“We go onto the next one with great confidence and the courage that we’ve shown again and keep going.”
O’Shea, 27, praised the Irish fans: “The support we received out in Prague and also throughout the whole world and then coming back here, people passing you by and being so grateful and saying nice words, it gives us great ambition to make the fans happy again.
“And doing that back in the Aviva, somewhere where we love to play, it’s amazing. Playing back in Dublin for your country with the fans coming out in their numbers at the Aviva’s always been special for us and always gives us that bit more motivation. We just want to do them proud like they want us to do them proud.”
Taylor and Szmodics are both out of the squad for Tuesday’s match, the on-loan Derby man due to a clash of heads soon after coming off the bench which saw him spend a night in a Prague hospital.
The midfielder returned home over the weekend as his wife was unwell although at the time with a chance that he might come back ahead of the game. Manager Heimir Hallgrímsson says he remains in England but that she has made an improvement.
“I talked to [Sammie] this morning, he’s feeling better, still has headaches, sickness and stuff. Probably will miss out on one or two games just for protocol reasons for Derby,” he said. “Jack Taylor, his wife is getting better, so positive news from there as well.”
Photo: Reuters
Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.