Republic of Ireland’s John O’Shea praises Norwich City’s Wes Hoolahan

Republic of Ireland defender John O’Shea led the praise for Wes Hoolahan yesterday after the Canaries star came off the bench to score his first international goal to wrap up a 2-0 friendly win over Poland in Dublin. But he admitted it might easily have been disallowed.

“It was a great goal from Wes,” said O’Shea, who captained the side in the absence of Robbie Keane. “But there might have been a suspicion of handball – I think the Gaelic Dublin team better watch out.

“It was a great finish from him, though. The quality of Wes, that’s what he is capable of.

“He came on and he has given the manager a tough decision now for March.

“He came on and made a massive impact, he did what he had to do.

“We probably passed it a little bit more because obviously the size of Wes, we were looking in the second half to keep the ball a bit better and bringing Wes on helped us to do that – but we can do a lot better at that as well.

“He took his goal fantastically. The manager especially thinks of people when they are scoring goals, it definitely opens his eyes, and we will wait and see. But there are bodies to come back as well.”