JOHN O’SHEA declared he is ready to manage Ireland full-time.
But Xherdan Shaqiri ruined his hopes of making his interim reign with a win by curling a free-kick past Gavin Bazunu.
With the FAI not appointing a successor to Stephen Kenny in time for this international window, O’Shea took charge for the friendly matches against Belgium and Switzerland.
The former Manchester Unitedstar failed to record a win but the experience has whetted his appetite for more.
O’Shea, 42, said: “It’s only given me a taste for more, whether that’s with Ireland or in club football.
“But that was the answer I was giving five or six years ago, that I wanted the chance to become a manager.
“That was what I was planning to do and part of the process was learning through assistant roles and then taking a manager’s role.
“I have loved every minute of it. I was fully engrossed in and it’s just annoying that we couldn’t get a win.”
Asked if he would tell the FAI – who have suggested that they have someone lined up– that he wanted to be considered for a full-time role, O’Shea said: “I think that’s something we’ll discuss later on.
“For me, the full focus was to enjoy the moment, in terms of learning from it, really understanding and learning about myself, in terms of how I cope in situations in the game and whether I would want to do more and the emphatic answer for me is yes.
“My instinct is I am more than ready and capable to be a manager.”
This defeat was watched by the Swiss-born Champions League-winning Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo, whom the FAI declared was not a candidate.
He is, however, a former team-mate and friend of O’Shea’s ex-Sunderland boss Gus Poyet, whose Greece side lost a Euro 2024 play-off to Georgia and has been heavily linked with the role.
O’Shea was frustrated by his side’s performance in the first half-hour and the awarding of the free-kick from which they scored as there was no contact between Dara O’Shea and his Burnley clubmate Zeki Amdouni.
He said: “I’ve watched it back, Dara has obviously stopped and the lad has gone over.
“You’re hoping the referee realises there is no contact. Yeah, you can argue Dara should stay on his feet but he’s pulled his leg away, he’s not made contact.
“But we should still defend the free-kick better. And I’d hold my hands up, Switzerland were dominant in the game at that stage.
“And we were frustrated in terms of how we wanted to be aggressive and dominant, like we were in the second half. We figured it out.
“That is the level we want to be competing at if we’re going to qualify but we have to be clinical and we weren’t clinical enough in terms of taking chances and producing the right pass at the right time.”