The 19-year-old striker had a first-half spot-kick saved by Matz Sels at the Aviva Stadium to extend his run without a goal for either club or country to 21 games dating back to the end of November.
Asked about Ferguson’s barren spell, O’Shea said: “It’s one of those things. He’ll have another spell five, six years down the line of a couple of months without a goal. It happens with top strikers.
“As soon as he gets on the goal trail again, he’ll be back on a run again.”
Ferguson’s big moment came 24 minutes into the game when fellow teenager Arthur Vermeeren was adjudged to have handled.
However, Ferguson slipped as he approached the ball and Sels blocked his mishit attempt with his legs.
O’Shea said: “It was just unfortunate. Ev had a little slip just before he knocked it, so it would have put him off. But look, a youngster stepping up like that, it shows the courage he has and he didn’t let it affect him.
“He knocked into the centre-backs as soon as he could again, got his confidence going and it’s one of those things. He was unlucky with one – he got himself in a great position second half as well.”
O’Shea, taking charge of the first of two friendlies with Switzerland to come in Dublin on Tuesday evening, blended the old with the new as he recalled former team-mates Seamus Coleman and Robbie Brady and handed a debut to Blackburn striker Sammie Szmodics.
Unsurprisingly, he reverted largely to type, asking his team firstly to be difficult to beat after three and a half years of promise, but not results, under Stephen Kenny before he lost his job in November.
As Ireland had been throughout much of his 118-cap international career, O’Shea’s team were solid and threatened most through Ferguson’s physicality and Chiedozie Ogbene’s pace, although without finding a way past keeper Sels.
O’Shea said: “Look, it’s a frustrating one because you appreciate Belgium had a decent bit of possession, but we kind of felt beforehand that we didn’t mind that in a sense because we knew the damage we could create against them on the break.
“If you take those chances when they arrive in the game, that even opens up Belgium a little bit more for us and we can exploit that even more, so it’s a frustrating one in that sense.
“But look, you’re playing Belgium in Dublin, you’d take a clean sheet, but a little bit disappointed in the end too.”
Opposite number Domenico Tedesco was less than impressed by what he had seen.
Asked for his verdict, the Belgium boss said: “A more or less boring game, not a good one. I think from both sides low rhythm, many, many difficulties to build up the game, slow passes, no sharpness. This is my conclusion.
“At the end, it looked a little bit like a summer friendly game.”
The 35-year-old Everton defender returned to the international stage after a year’s absence when interim boss O’Shea selected him in his squad for the friendlies against Belgium and Switzerland and then started him as captain in both games.
Coleman made his Ireland debut alongside O’Shea against Wales in February 2011 and the pair played together for their country until the former Manchester United man retired from international football in June 2018.
Asked about the vacancy and the 42-year-old’s chances of filling it after Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat by the Swiss, Coleman said: “I don’t want to sound like someone who’s played a couple of games for the manager and I am doing all I can to get him in, but being completely honest, the way he has conducted himself, how impressive he has been…
“My time will be up soon, but going forward for the future – so it’s not on a personal level – I think the way he’s carried himself, the work that he, [coaches] Paddy [McCarthy], Glenn [Whelan] have done behind the scenes has been really impressive, what he has done for his country, that respect he has from people instantly…
“I think he will be in the running. I have no idea, but why not be in the running for it? And I’d be delighted for him – but that’s above my pay grade.”
The search for Kenny’s replacement – he was relieved of his duties in November after a disappointing Euro 2024 qualifying campaign – has extended to four months, although the Football Association of Ireland’s director of football Marc Canham has indicated that an announcement, which has been delayed by “existing contractual obligations”, will come in early April.
With leading candidate Lee Carsley, the European Championship-winning England Under-21s boss, having ruled himself out of the running, speculation has been rife as to the identity of the successful candidate.
Greece manager Gus Poyet, whose side lost their Euro 2024 play-off final clash with Georgia on penalties on Tuesday evening, is out of contract at the weekend and is the current favourite with the bookmakers, although O’Shea’s temporary tenure has been well received.
Asked about the interregnum and its impact on the players, Coleman said: “As captain, I care about the players and all the rest of that, but that’s not my job to figure out who the manager’s going to be.
“I am a player, I have always been a player, I don’t stand out of my zone. I have never been one to speak about people above me or anything like that, it’s not my job.
“Whoever it is will give their all for it. I think there’s a case for John, the way he’s carried himself, what he has done for the country. He has coached for a period of time now, the lads all really enjoyed it.
“Whoever that will be, we will find out soon and as always, we will have massive pride in representing our country and give our all for whoever will be in charge.”
The 35-year-old Everton defender has not represented his country since doing a job on superstar Kylian Mbappe in a 1-0 Euro 2024 qualifying defeat by France in March last year as a result of a serious knee injury suffered at Leicester five weeks later.
However, he is in line to pull on the green shirt once again in Saturday’s friendly against Belgium and is keen to play his part after watching the last qualifying campaign unravel in his absence.
Coleman, who only returned to senior football after his medial ligament injury in December, told a press conference: “It’s always tough watching on and to see the team not doing so well is very tough.
“I’ve been there when I’ve been fit and a part of teams that aren’t doing well, so I know how it feels, it’s tough.
“It always hurts us when we play for our national team and it doesn’t go to plan, but, personally speaking, I was kind of tunnel vision towards getting fit.
“It was a bit of a scare the night of the Leicester game because I kind of thought that might have been it. It looked to be a bad injury, but thankfully I got away without it being an ACL, which was important at my age.
“At the time, I was just completely focused on getting back fit. Obviously I watch out for the lads and care for the lads when I’m not here, but I had full focus on trying to get back to play at this level.”
Coleman’s return coincides with the installation of former team-mate John O’Shea as interim head coach as the Football Association of Ireland prepares to unveil Stephen Kenny’s successor next month.
However, England Under-21 boss Lee Carsley has revealed it will not be him after confirming he held talks with the FAI following Kenny’s departure in November, but that the discussions went no further.
Carsley, who won 40 caps for Ireland and was understood to be the FAI’s preferred candidate after leading the Young Lions to European Championship glory last summer, told the Daily Mail: “We had an initial conversation in November. I went to speak to them. Really informal, enjoyable, for around an hour. It went no further.
“It was good to see what their thoughts were and to explore whether I was ready to take that next step. It just went no further. I didn’t push it.
“I’ve always said that I’m really privileged to do this job I’m in. I appreciate that I’m in a really good position with a lot of responsibility.”
Meanwhile, broadcaster Sky has been confirmed as the new primary partner of the Ireland men’s team, which had been without a main sponsor since 2019, and at the same time extended its two-and-a-half-year partnership with the women’s team.
The deal will run until 2028 and cover the nation’s involvement in the Women’s Euros in 2025, the 2026 World Cup, the 2027 Women’s World Cup and Euro 2028.
