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Slaven Bilic so happy for new Irish international Dara O'Shea

Slaven Bilic says he was thrilled to see Dara O’Shea make his senior debut for the Republic of Ireland.

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And Albion’s boss believes earning his first international cap will give the promising defender extra confidence moving forward.

In what has been a whirlwind year for O’Shea, the 21-year-old forced his way into the Baggies’ first-team back in January and in total made 21 appearances for the club last season.

The centre-back has also made five starts this season, with his form earning a call-up into Stephen Kenny’s Republic of Ireland squad.

He then made his debut last week in a Nations League clash with Finland.

“It’s great for him,” Bilic said when asked what he makes of O’Shea playing for Ireland.

“I have congratulated him, he is very proud.

“Every player is proud to represent their country, there is nothing better than that.

“But there are some countries that make your family even more proud and Ireland is one of those countries.

“It means more than football, more than representing your country.

“I am extremely happy for him, he is a brilliant kid.

“And it will help. It will help his motivation, his confidence that he has that cap for his country. Brilliant.”

Bilic feels O’Shea has made remarkable progress over the past year.

But he said his success is simply down to hard work.

“I noticed him (O’Shea) straight away, when I arrived at the club last season,” the Croatian continued. “At the start of pre-season, everybody was crazy focused straight away – but you can also here laughter and all that.

“I was the new manager, I came here and then you start training and after two seconds, you here: ‘How many touches?’, ‘How many that?’ – Dara never asked that, he knew.

“He listens to everything and that’s a big part of his improvement.

“He listens he thinks about his game. He is like a sponge. He listens to you and tries to improve his game, and that’s why his improvement has been really unbelievable.

“If you consider where he was last season at this time and where he is now, it’s like a fairytale. But he deserves it all.”