One of the biggest storylines of this weekend’s clash between Ireland and England at the Aviva Stadium will be the presence of Declan Rice in the English setup.
Alongside teammate Jack Grealish, Rice has drawn the ire of Irish supporters in recent years with his defection to the Three Lions, and he is likely to start Saturday evening’s game in Dublin.
Rice’s situation is slightly different to Grealish’s, however. Though Grealish did indeed line out for Ireland at several underage levels, he never lined out in green at senior level.
Arsenal midfielder Rice, by contrast, played three friendly games for the Republic of Ireland in 2018 before jumping ship to England the following year.
The defection of Rice to England has made him one of the biggest public enemies for Irish football fans in recent years and this weekend will mark his first game in Dublin since lining out against the USA in June 2018.
The captain on the pitch for Ireland that day, John O’Shea, is now working alongside head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson in the Irish dugout. Ahead of this weekend’s game, O’Shea refused to be drawn on any “what if?” questions about the hypothetical state of Irish football had Rice stayed in green.
Ireland v England: John O’Shea not entertaining Declan Rice talk
It was only natural that questions about Declan Rice would be posed to the Irish coaching team ahead of the midfielder’s contentious return to Dublin this weekend.
Assistant head coach John O’Shea faced the press on Wednesday and refused to be drawn when asked how Irish football would look today had Rice not chosen to switch allegiances.
When asked if the thought of Rice’s hypothetical fate with Ireland had ever crossed his mind, O’Shea’s answer was unequivocal.
No, not at all.
It’s one of them, it’s a focus on us and the players that are here and the players who want to be here. It’s as simple as that.
He’s not here. He’s in the England squad so we can’t keep talking about it. You have to curb a lot of England players’ impact on the game, when you play a team that has just been in the Euros final, you know they have lots of threats and options to pick from.
Despite any attempts from the Irish side to quieten Declan Rice talk this week, there will undoubtedly be a huge focus on the England star ahead of Saturday evening’s game.
There is little doubt that Rice can expect a noisy reception from the Ireland fans on Lansdowne Road this weekend.
