Blues boss Kieran McKenna has praised Dara O’Shea both for his captaincy and his role at the heart of the defence.

Republic of Ireland international O’Shea, who will be making his 50th league appearance for the club against Wrexham on Saturday, was appointed skipper in the summer following Samy Morsy’s exit having worn the armband when the Egypt international was absent last season after joining Town in August 2024 from Burnley in the wake of their relegation.

“I think he is doing a good job on both,” McKenna said. “As a player, he is someone we really enjoy working with.

“I think he has got fantastic qualities as a defender, his commitment on the pitch is outstanding.

“I think you can see in his duals and his challenges and his pace, it is really, really hard to get the better of him at this level. And the same at Premier League level in terms of challenges, duals and pace.

“He enjoys those contests and he comes out on top very, very often, even against the best forwards.

“He is a great addition to have in the squad and he is only 25, so he is still learning and developing all the time.

“He has a great mindset. It’s a different sort of season for him. He’s had the last two seasons with teams at the bottom of the league, fighting and competing for the points, probably have low possession in those games and defending deep more often.

“This is now him playing in a ball-dominant team with many more involvements with the ball than without the ball. That’s a different demand, puts different challenges on him, but I think that was part of the attraction for him to be part of the project this season.

“It will develop his game and it’s a different challenge every weekend to be a centre-back when we are trying to be one of the dominant teams in the league. He’s improving in those challenges and he is continuing to improve.

“And as a leader, he’s been outstanding. Irrespective of the captaincy, I don’t see any change in him. He has been an outstanding leader from the day he arrived in really difficult circumstances.

“He’s a leader day-to-day and a role model in how he conducts himself. Of course, the same as it was with Samy, leadership isn’t just about Dara. It’s about other people supporting him and having a structure in place.

“In his case, he is one who always wants to take things on and help his teammates. He thinks about others and has some really great qualities as a leader.

“You just hope he keeps injury free as he is going to keep learning and improving all the time. I think he is going to have a really, really good career.”

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