No longer stay for John O'Shea as fog begins to clear
A RAINY, DANK day outside Aviva Stadium befitted the chaos attached to the Ireland managerial search but Marc Canham was crystal clear about a finish line in sight.
Various soundbites since the FAI got serious about sourcing Stephen Kenny’s replacement indicated this hunt wouldn’t have reached March and the necessity to install a caretaker boss in John O’Shea.
On January 30, emerging from one of his early board meetings, new chairman Tony Keohane promised an outcome in the “not-too-distant future”.
According to chief executive Jonathan Hill’s timeline, a new boss would have been in Paris on February 8 reacting to a Nations League draw that grouped Ireland with England, Finland and Greece.
Rather it was Canham, as director of football, who had to front up as the football representative within the delegation. “We’re near the end,” he flagged four weeks ago, amid questioning of the man mandated by the FAI board alongside Hill and board member Packie Bonner to deliver the suitable successor.
When he uttered a similar update at the launch of his Pathways programme a fortnight ago, cynicism set in.
Searches for previous managers descended into wild goose chases and surpassing the 100-day mark last Friday anointed this pursuit with the ignominy of being the second longest in FAI history.
If a sauve, sophisticated Canham is to be believed, the wait will be worth it.
Ireland don’t have competitive fixtures until England come to Dublin on September 7, only a double-header friendly in early June against Hungary and Portugal that the chosen one will be well ensconced for.
“We’d hoped to have a permanent solution in place for the draw but that wasn't possible,” Canham said about recalibrating their approach a month ago.
“It
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