Town skipper Dara O’Shea has expressed his pride at becoming the first Blues captain to lead a side to East Anglian derby glory for 16 years.

O’Shea and his teammates finally ended a 6,013-day wait for a victory over Norwich City when they defeated the Canaries 3-1 at Portman Road yesterday.

The last captain to lead Town to a derby win was local boy Richard Wright in April 2009 when Jim Magilton’s Blues won 3-2 on home turf.

“Extremely proud,” O’Shea told TownTV. “Extremely proud of the group, proud of the fans and proud of the town. To be the group who have done this now is special. 

“We always felt we were going to do it and we’re happy with how we went and did it. It was never going to be easy and we weren’t always going to be allowed to play the football we wanted to, but I’m proud we were able to play the football we wanted to.  

“Derby days take a lot of grit and determination and I think we showed that in abundance today.”

O’Shea thanked the club’s support for their input, particularly Blue Action for the coach greeting as the squad arrived at the ground.

“We want to give a massive shoutout to the fans,” he added. “The welcome we had was special and I think if you ask any of the players they will tell you they had goosebumps. It’s really appreciated.

“Sixteen years is a long time to go without the bragging right and we’re proud we’ve been able to deliver for them.”

O’Shea is one of four players in yesterday’s squad joining up with the Republic of Ireland side for their World Cup qualifiers against Portugal and Armenia along with Sammie Szmodics, Kasey McAteer and Jack Taylor. On-loan Blues winger Chieo Ogbene is also in the party.

Elsewhere, former Blues academy coach Gerard Nash’s Cork City secured a place in the FAI Cup final by beating St Patrick’s Athletic 3-0 on Friday.

The Leesiders, who despite their cup success look destined to be relegated from the League of Ireland Premier Division, will face Shamrock Rovers in the final on November 9th.

IMAGO/Focus Images via Reuters Connect/Matchday Images

d77sgw added 11:44 - Oct 6 TBF had one of his better games for us - did well for the first goal, and generally solid throughout. Much prefer the Kipre/O’Shea pairing at the moment. Greaves really has been poor for us over the last year - CK looks so much calmer.
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FreddySteady added 12:10 - Oct 6 Disagree to some extent . Thought he really struggled playing out from the back, certainly early on in the game. Still, we won!
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TimmyH added 12:33 - Oct 6 Thought he was poor 1st half...gave the ball away a number of times or got caught.
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johnwarksshorts added 12:36 - Oct 6 He improved after a nervy start with a few misplaced passes. Him and Kipre much better option in defence.
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fifeblue added 12:40 - Oct 6 Well, at least I got the 3 and the 1 right in my dream but not necessarily in the right place! Norwich were poor overall and it might have been a considerably bigger score. I think the pundits were being a bit kind to them and fair play to Dean Ashton who admitted that there is a gulf in class between Ipswich and Norwich now.
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WhoisJimmyJuan added 13:07 - Oct 6 I accept i may be way off here,but Jack Clarke doesn't look very happy? Always cupping ears to the fans as if to say he's not valued. On TV he suggested he wouldn't be going out with his teammates to celebrate as well. Maybe reading too much into it as I rate him highly.
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Gforce added 13:13 - Oct 6 Football has a habit of going in cycles and that cycle has now fully turned 360° in our favour. We are streets ahead of them in all aspects. Hopefully a dream season is on the horizon,with us doing the double over them,along with promotion for us and relegation for them ! Hopefully dreams can come true !
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Linkboy13 added 15:40 - Oct 6 If Jack Clarke wasn't very happy he certainly didn't show it on the pitch . Dispite starting on the bench regularly always gives one hundred percent. The O'shea, Kipre partnership is looking very promising but it's early days. Greaves has looked very solid when played at left back and could also be handy when converting to a back four.
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StowTractor added 17:15 - Oct 6 Think that pep talk pre game shuts up those who think he isn't really captain material just because he is a different character to Morsy.
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armchaircritic59 added 18:05 - Oct 6 Linkboy13, I'm a fan of JC, I was talking him up even when he was being constantly slagged off by some ( not all of course ) in here. He's had plenty of chances to have thrown his toys out of the pram since he's been here such as being played wide right instead of left, being the scapegoat for anyone that got sent off last season etc, but he's kept his counsel and is doing his talking on the pitch. He's incredibly unfortunate to have JP absolutely playing out of his skin at the moment, but I'm sure he'll get a more regular chance again at some point. We are very lucky to have someone like him to bring on as a" finisher " at the moment. On another side note, I see Muric is playing his part in taking Sassuolo into the top half of Serie A in this early stage of the season. He made 9 saves in a match during last week. Just needed somewhere to go to regain his confidence. I wish him well too.

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TimmyH added 18:43 - Oct 6 blues1 - seriously mate wake up! if you were watching the game you would have noted there was again some unneeded passing out from Palmer to defenders with Norwich players almost on them in that 1st half, O'Shea under duress did give the ball away or passes went array a few times (occasionally without pressure). At times more direct play was more successful.
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Linkboy13 added 20:54 - Oct 6 The problem with constantly trying to build out from the back it tends to dictate the tempo of the game especially when it's so predictable .
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armchaircritic59 added 00:50 - Oct 7 All these systems, playing out from the back, high press etc, are all risk and reward, non are better than the other, it all depends on the type and quality of the players a manager has at his disposal and on occasion, the opposition. I long ago agreed with whoever it was that first said, " It isn't systems that win football games, it's players " In KM's case, he's obviously decided we have the players that are best suited to playing out from the back, or else he's trying to force a system onto players that are best suited to something different. Personally, only based on what I've seen, I'd say at the very least, the juries out on that. One other thing, In Matusiwa, Cajuste and Nunez, we have just about everything that would make up a near perfect three man midfield. Matusiwa's ability to tackle and mop up and play forward thinking balls, Cajuste's ability to drop a shoulder and run with the ball and he can tackle too. Nunez's eye for a pass etc. It makes a very high class threesome at Championship level at least. Will KM ever do it or his just wed to the double pivot and nothing else? I guess time will decide.

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TownSupporter added 09:48 - Oct 7 Agreed armchaircritic. Still not sure the central attacking midfielder behind the striker has worked at all really this season. Would like to see those three play together. Quite rare now that you see the attacking midfielder as teams tend to play a flat three or one defensive midfielder in the centre of midfield.
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armchaircritic59 added 18:47 - Oct 7 TownSupporter, I just wonder if he's tried it out in training, if it was me I'd be almost drooling at the prospect! Maybe at some point much to our surprise and no doubt to an opponent who's expecting the normal double pivot, he's suddenly going to name a side pre match with the three in midfield. We will see, or not as the case might be!
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