Before Shane Long came along and stole his thunder, John O'Shea was the man who stuck the ball in German net. A draw against the world champions seems run of the mill these days but back then in Gelsenkirchen a lot of pent up love for the Waterford man was brought to the fore.
He's always been something of a fan favourite. He does his job and he's certainly made the most of his ability. It's something we as a nation pride ourselves on and Rio Ferdinand got a chance to see that long before O'Shea stabbed that shot past Manuel Neuer.
Ferdinand was speaking at the Web Summit in Dublin on Thursday when thoughts of Ireland's upcoming Euro 2016 play-off turned to the absence of John O'Shea.
The Sunderland man may not have had the best of times in the Premier League so far this season but, as we all know, he's going to be a huge miss in Zenica. His prognosis for the second leg in Dublin is looking good but he's definitely out of the first leg through suspension and Ferdinand was up front with his belief that Ireland would miss his reliability at the back.
We may all love that reliability but nowhere more is the O'Shea love more apparent than in his native Waterford. And O'Shea's former Man United teammates found that out during a trip to Waterford back in 2002. Ferdinand had recently become the world's most expensive defender having signed from Leeds. However, no amount of money could distract the Irish fans from what they really care about.
We used to call him the mayor of Waterford.
I went to Waterford with United when I was a kid after first signing. And he wasn’t even a regular in the first team.
I’d just signed and they were more interested in Sheasy, it was unbelievable. He was just a young kid but in Waterford he was the man. It was funny.
Million pound footballers can be found anywhere. What Irish fans really want is to see the fella who used to go to school with their neighbour's brother. You can keep your Rio Ferdinands, we just want to see the home town hero (as long as they haven't gotten too big for their boots, then they're dead to us).
