SPEAKING AFTER what turned out to be his final match in charge of Ireland, Stephen Kenny sounded frustrated following the 1-1 draw with New Zealand, an anti-climactic end to what has been a largely forgettable 2023 for his squad.

“New Zealand played well,” he told RTÉ afterwards. “We didn’t play well second half. I take responsibility for that. I played [Andrew] Omobamidele a great prospect but he hasn’t played a lot of games, I played players who have been in and out at club level and have been part of this journey.”

Omobamidele was far from the only Irish player who looked a little rusty last night, but he has endured a tougher time than most at club level.

The youngster had featured 35 times in all competitions for Norwich last season but struggled for game time after the club signed international teammate Shane Duffy.

Before the New Zealand encounter, he had started just two games this season, both in the League Cup with the Canaries last August.

However, most people expected Omobamidele to kick on after he became the second-most expensive Irish player ever after Nathan Collins, joining Premier League side Nottingham Forest for €23 million on Transfer Deadline Day.

Yet the defender is still awaiting a debut for his new club and invariably doesn’t even make the matchday squad owing to intense competition for places.

However, Forest boss Steve Cooper in a press conference last month denied there were any issues with Omobamidele and hinted a first-team debut was not far away.

“I wanted to mention him,” Cooper said. “When young players come to a club, you have to assess them.

“Sometimes, through all sorts of different reasons, opportunities can present themselves at different times.

“We’re really happy with Andrew — that’s the thing everyone needs to know. And he has settled in really well.

“I think it’s only a matter of time before we see him, or give him the opportunity to play. The timing of it might look a bit different to Murillo or Anthony (Elanga) or Danilo, when he first came in.

“But we’re really happy with him. He’s a hard-working, very serious professional. A good player.

“We’re really looking forward to committing to him. And he is feeling the same as well.”

Speaking to reporters last night, Omobamidele admitted a sense of relief at completing a senior match for the first time in three months.

“I needed it, you know?” he said. “I haven’t played a game in a while — to go and play 90 tonight against a good side was good, I’m happy with that.

“If you’re not playing for your club, it’s very difficult to put you in for a big game in the qualifiers. I think I’m close, I just need to keep doing what I’m doing at the moment and just try and do well and keep fighting. We all know football is not easy, I’m happy today I got a runout, and got it into my legs. I’ll go back to Forest now and just keep going again.”

Asked whether Cooper had explained to him the rationale behind leaving him out of the team, the Leixlip native replied: “There is a process to everything, you know? Recruitments and stuff, ins and outs and that. So yeah, I’m just trying to control the controllables at the moment which for me is when my opportunity comes just take it. And obviously in the training ground every day I give 100% and the rest is out of my control. Yeah, there is a process in everything but once I get my chance I’m ready to take it. I think it’s a matter of time.

“It’s all about mentality because there are days that you go in and you don’t know if you’re going to get your chance so it’s easy to go: ‘Look, I’m just going to train half today because I know I’m not going to play at the weekend,’ but you can’t be like that because when you’re like that you never know you might be playing and you’re not ready. You just need to be ready every week.

“I get told to be patient a lot by family members and stuff like that but I think there’s a difference between patience and complacency, I never want to get into the position where I’m not playing and I’m happy where I am.

“I want to play and to establish myself in the Premier League and in international football.”

Omobamidele also paid tribute to Kenny at a time when the Ireland coach’s departure had not yet been made official.

“That point where he had the faith to bring me on against Portugal [during a World Cup qualifier in 2021], that lit the fire in my early career stage, that’s when everything started to fall into place for me, I owe him a massive debt for that.

“I will be forever grateful for that and the faith he continued to show me after that. With the lack of minutes I am getting with the club now, it’d be easy to throw in other people who are playing and I’d understand that but he continued to show faith in me.”