Dion Fanning: John O’Shea can bring an interim peace in Irish football's endless battle

PG Wodehouse said it wasn’t difficult to distinguish between a “Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine”. The same might be said of the beleaguered Irish football supporter.

Times are always tough; dissatisfaction is forever increasing while the mood in the camp is never far from being volatile.

There are legitimate historical reasons for this sense of disenchantment. When the FAI are involved, it is best to begin with a grievance rather than taking a panglossian approach that believes there is a light at the end of the tunnel even as the light is known to be a train that is out of control and moving towards us.

Even in the last few days, the dead hand of the association has brought dissatisfaction and confusion ahead of a couple of friendlies that should be about a little shot of hopefulness.

The confirmation from Lee Carsley that he will be staying with England U-21s has brought a focus back, not just on the FAI’s search for a manager, but on the promises made as part of that search.

The deadline to have a manager in place by the time of the draw for the Nations League has already been missed. Douglas Adams said “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by”. The FAI would be met by more than a whooshing sound if something else delayed that appointment in April.

When Marc Canham announced at the beginning of March that the FAI were near “the end of the process”, it sounded like positive news. We would, as they like to say, trust the process while scolding ourselves for cynically thinking that the FAI process was closer to the meme of the man sliding down between the escalators in a London tube station.

What’s more, Canham offered a tantalising glimpse of what was to come.

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