Shelbourne interim head coach Joey O'Brien refused to be drawn on whether or not he would want the position on a full-time basis, following Monday’s 2-2 draw with Waterford at the RSC.
O’Brien had been Damien Duff’s number two at Tolka Park ever since the latter’s appointment in late 2021, but was thrust into the main position after Duff’s shock resignation on Sunday that rocked the League of Ireland.
Duff was linked with a coaching job at Premier League side Brentford, should Keith Andrews be appointed, but has subsequently distanced himself from any role with the Bees.
O'Brien had little time to prepare his side for their visit to Waterford but was pleased with what he saw.
However when asked afterwards if it's a role he would like to continue in long term, he was non-committal.
"(I was) shocked and stunned as much as the whole football club was," he said.
"There was a job to do, we get paid, and we’re the luckiest people in the world for the jobs that we have.
"This is part of the game. I’ve spoken to the lads about it over the last few weeks because I’ve been a professional footballer and the demands and the stuff you have to put on, I think that has been misquoted in the press, stuff being said as a bad thing. It’s not a bad thing.
"When you’re a professional footballer you are the luckiest player in the world, but you have to demand performances, demand your own standards, how you live, it’s a constant.
"I spoke to them yesterday, that this is the other side of professional football, something unexpected can happen like that. What do you do? The only thing you do is you get paid by the football club to perform, and that’s your job. I felt that all of them stood up tonight and put in a performance."
The timing of Duff’s dramatic departure from the holders caught everyone by surprise, especially with a looming Champions League clash with Irish League kingpins Linfield just weeks away, but O’Brien paid tribute to what he had achieved at the club.
"It was a shock for everyone at the football club, myself included.
"Listen, from a personal point of view I absolutely loved the manager and he'll always be my manager. We had some great times and he built this really and the success we’ve had over the last few years, I don’t think it would have been possible without him."
On the performance in trying circumstances, O’Brien was more than happy but felt they should have been coming home with three points rather than one, with Daniel Kelly being denied by the crossbar in the final play.
"I told them, 'this is our job. This football club is going to be here well after all of us are gone and it was here well before all of us. Go out and put in a performance for yourself, for the man next to you and for the football club’.
"I thought they all did that, I thought some of the individual performances were fantastic...the disappointing thing of the whole day is the lads didn’t get the three points that I think they really deserved but it probably sums up our season."
Waterford boss John Coleman was in no doubt that his side were second best all evening, and he said he was responsible for a lot of that.
"I said to our lads in there, all credit for not throwing the towel in.
"We got very disjointed in the second half and I've got to take the blame for that because I've made two positional changes, shoving players here, there and everywhere when we haven't really prepared for that."
Watch USA v Republic of Ireland on Friday from 2am on RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app
