Dara O’Shea: Lessons I’ve learned from Vincent Kompany will serve me well with Republic
Dara O'Shea is fighting for a regular place in the Republic of Ireland's back four
Dara O’Shea says he’s ready to bounce back from the blows he’s taken with a struggling Burnley side in the Premier League this season to deliver on the international stage in Amsterdam on Saturday night.
O’Shea is competing with other defenders like Nathan Collins, Shane Duffy, Andrew Ombamidele and an in-form Liam Scales to win a place in the starting XI for Stephen Kenny’s final competitive game as Republic of Ireland boss and win his 22nd senior cap.
But it has been a testing season for the Dubliner who was left out of the team by Kenny while at one spell in the season he was not even on the bench for Burnley in their Premier League relegation battle. O’Shea was axed by Vincent Kompany after a 5-2 loss to Tottenham and he didn’t even make the bench for three of the next four Premier League games.
He’s now back in favour but has learned lessons under hard taskmaster Kompany.
“The manager, he demands a lot of you and there’s so much to learn. I was briefed on that previously, before I signed but I didn’t really expect it to be what it was when I got there,” says O’Shea, who joined the Clarets in the summer from West Brom.
“We have quite a young squad there too, he’s trying to get information on board to everyone, there’s a lot of information to take on but we are slowly getting there. He told me at the start of the season that it would take time for me to get it and I am slowly coming around to it, I feel I am becoming a better player.
“It was tough mentally. There wasn’t much words said to me, to be honest. I don’t know why that was, I think that’s just the way he handles things, I had to get my head around that and work hard, put myself
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