‘We’ll see what’s best’ - Ireland assistant on Town defender’s back injury

Republic of Ireland assistant manager John O’Shea has said that the national team will assess Ipswich Town defender Dara O’Shea when he arrives at the camp.

The 25-year-old, who joined the Blues from Burnley over the summer, has played in their last eight Premier League games while also earning two starts for the Boys in Green during the last international break.

Town boss McKenna has revealed that he’s been playing with a ‘pretty severe’ back injury, however, having picked it up during the 4-1 defeat to West Ham at the start of October.

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While this period in the season would be a good opportunity to recover, he’s currently set to feature for Ireland against Finland and England before returning to Suffolk ahead of Ipswich’s game against Manchester United.

John O’Shea is aware that he’s facing the issue and has revealed that he’ll be assessed ahead of Thursday’s match in Dublin.

“Like everyone, we’ll assess that when we get proper eyes on him,” he said in his pre-match press conference. “We’ll take it from there.

“It was great to see him finish the game and get through the game against Tottenham.

“Like with any player that comes into international duty, we'll look after them and we’ll see what’s best for them.”

Town duo Chiedozie Ogbene and Jack Taylor have both missed international duty with Ireland through injury. Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side currently sit third in their Nations League B group with three points from four games.