x

McKenna: O'Shea's Been Excellent, Ogbene a Big Miss - Ipswich Town News

Town boss Kieran McKenna says Irish international pair Dara O’Shea and Chieo Ogbene thoroughly deserved the awards they received at Monday night’s End-of-Season Dinner.

O’Shea was named the Men’s Player of the Year and Ogbene, Town’s disability ambassador, the club’s PFA Community Champion picking up the Philip Hope-Cobbold Award along with women’s all-time top scorer and appearance-maker Natasha Thomas.

"I think he has been excellent and very consistent over the course of the campaign,” McKenna said regarding O’Shea.

"He arrived late and missed the first three games and had a little injury in the early part of the season. Considering all that, he has been really consistent in his performances.

"We’ve had to move his role around a little because of injuries but his performances have been good and his character has been outstanding.

"As a person and a leader in the club, it’s not easy coming into a club that has had a lot of success and a really settled group, but he has earned the respect of everyone and is growing day by day as a leader.

"One thing you can clearly see is that he has played Premier League football recently and you can maybe say he is the only one of our outfield players who has done that in the last year.

"I think you can see that in his assuredness and his consistency. He’s really brought that to the group and that’s been a benefit to have.

"We would like to have him here going forward. He is the type of person and mentality and player that you would like to build the next few years around.”

Ogbene’s season was curtailed in October by an achilles rupture when he had made only four starts and two sub appearances following his £8 million August signing from Luton Town.

"He has been a big miss,” McKenna reflected. "First and foremost, he is an absolute A* person – as good a human being as you are ever going to meet. Everyone has taken to him really well. He is a fantastic person.

"As a player, we have really missed his qualities - pace and power and physicality in the Premier League is in many positions the prerequisite. And as a team, it’s a prerequisite in being competitive.

"To lose him really early was a big, big blow – compounded by losing Wes [Burns], who is a similar profile in the same position.

"In the second half of the season, we have really missed the qualities that those two have. Even when Chieo was out and Wes was fit, you miss having one of them to start and one of them to come on.

"It has been a big, big loss with any other right wingers we have used also getting injured. It has been a bit of a cursed position for us this year.

"The positive is that we will have him back with us next season and hopefully, everything being well, in good condition to join us for pre-season.

"We haven’t had the benefit of his qualities too much yet, so he will be like a really fresh player for us in pre-season and ready to help us next year.”

What to read next:

Hutchinson and England U21s Face Spain
Blues forward Omari Hutchinson and his England U21s teammates face Spain in the European Championship quarter-finals in Slovakia (KO 8pm, Channel 4).
Cajuste Offered to Udinese Report
Napoli are reported to have offered former Blues loanee Jens Cajuste to Udinese as they look to sign Italian international striker Lorenzo Lucca in a cash-plus-player deal.
TWTD Questionnaire Results Now Online
TWTD’s seventies-style supercomputer, the Osborne 1.0, has been fired up once again and the results of the TWTD Questionnaire 2024/25 are now available.
FA Youth Cup Hero Upson Retires
Ed Upson, the scorer of the goal which won Town the FA Youth Cup in 2005, has announced he is hanging up his boots, aged 35.
Prediction League Winners
The TWTD Prediction League was as keenly contested as ever during 2024/25 but with BigAlsMate’s emerging as the winner by five points.
Hutchinson: We Want to Be Dominant Against Spain
Omari Hutchinson says he and his England U21s teammates have to look to dominate Spain in Saturday’s European Championship quarter-final in Trnava, Slovakia.
Trabzonspor Concerns Over Tuanzebe Injury Record
Trabzonspor are concerned by Blues defender Axel Tuanzebe’s injury record, according to a Turkish report.
Delap Nominated For PFA Young Player of the Year
Former Town striker Liam Delap has been named in the PFA’s Young Player of the Year Top Six.
Hutchinson Assists as England U21s Progress Despite Defeat
Blues forward Omari Hutchinson won his seventh cap as England’s U21s made it through to the knockout stages of the European Championship, despite being beaten 2-1 by Germany in their final group game in Slovakia.
Youngster Nicolaou Signs First Pro Deal
Academy youngster Shakil Nicolaou has signed his first professional deal.