Town captain Dara O’Shea says he is immensely proud to have led the Blues to promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Having taken over the armband from Sam Morsy last summer, skipper O’Shea played every Championship minute en route to securing his first promotion with Town and second of his career.

The Blues defender, who has widely been considered one of the best performers throughout the campaign, says doing so in front of so many jubilant supporters is a special moment.

“It means everything,” he said. “It’s what we set out to do at the start of the season, and we’ve achieved that. It hasn’t been easy, it’s been tough and we’ve had to work hard for it.

“I’m so proud to lead this group of players and lead these people and town back to the Premier League. I’m over the moon and words can’t really put into it.”

O’Shea’s post-match interview took place on the Portman Road pitch, where he was joined by his three-year-old son, while his partner and various other members of his family were also in attendance.

He said: “My partner, who has been with me through everything, and my son, Oaklen. My dad’s here, my mate, my cousin.

“Days like these are so important for the families because we sacrifice so much with what we do, and they sacrifice so much as well. To have these moments to celebrate today is special, memories we’ll look back on and he’ll look back on.

“I’m so happy to have such good people by my side to help me through it. You look on the pitch and you see everyone’s friends and family, and everybody is so happy. That’s something special and doesn’t happen very often, so we’ve got to cherish these moments.”

The game itself, one in which Town had to win to ensure they got the job done, could not have got off to a more perfect start.

After a raucous coach welcome into the ground, the Blues found themselves 2-0 up inside just nine minutes thanks to quickfire goals from George Hirst and Jaden Philogene.

“That’s the way to do it, isn’t it,” O’Shea said. “We knew that we had to come out of the blocks quick and fast, and we did. The longer the game went on without us scoring, the harder it was going to be and the more tension there was.

“We did all we could to get ahead so early, and we’ll probably be disappointed with how we didn’t kill the game off then. 2-0 and we go and score the third, celebrations, partying, we’ll enjoy ourselves.”


Town’s off-season this summer will be one of the longest they have ever had, with the Premier League season kicking off in 16 weeks’ time on the weekend of August 22.

Asked what the coming weeks look like, O’Shea said: “I’ve got to go away with Ireland next week for a 10-day camp and then after that I’ll be on my holidays.

“I’m just looking forward to it, I’ve never really had a proper summer so this can be my first summer where I’ve had some time to get my feet up, reflect, spend some time with my son and partner and enjoy ourselves.”

Photo: TWTD