Previously, the Dubliner had served as assistant to Damien Duff – himself now an assistant coach to Keith Andrews at Premier League side Brentford<\/a> – helping to lead Shelbourne to the League of Ireland title in 2024.<\/p>\n Robinson said the association was keen to tap into the 40-year-old’s “invaluable” experience for the benefit of the players who will be involved in the upcoming camp.<\/p>\n “Obviously, he’s played for his country, (and has) unbelievable experience as a player first and foremost,” he said.<\/p>\n “I’ve listened to his conversations about his journey from Lourdes Celtic all the way to playing for his country.<\/p>\n “We want people to influence our players as well in terms of who they are – (O’Brien is) an unbelievable guy – and we want those people in our system to be able to influence our players as well.<\/p>\n “Even if it is only for a short time, and our coaches to be around each other, we’re ultimately all working together, like club coaches, international coaches, for the betterment of of our players. And I think Joey would really add to that.<\/p>\n “Last year I was at the World Cup with the 17s and Duffer (Damien Duff) was there working for FIFA. I would prefer to see him work with us to be honest. He’s just unbelievable, (and) could give back to the players.”<\/p>\n Robinson added that the FAI want to ensure that the door remains ajar for former men’s and women’s international players to contribute in a coaching capacity where possible.<\/p>\n “We had it last year with \u00c1ine (O’Gorman) and Steph (Zambra), in terms of people coming into support camps, and that’s something we’d like to continue, how that evolves on the female side as well,” he told RT\u00c9 Sport.<\/p>\n “That’s something we’re working on right now with Lizzie (Kent, head of women’s and girls football) and others, in terms of how we deal with that.<\/p>\n “The former international door should be always open, we don’t want to lose people with that experience either.”<\/p>\n The Republic of Ireland will feature at the FIFA U17 World Cup in Qatar for the second year in a row later in 2026.<\/p>\n The current crop of Boys in Green players will face Brazil, Tanzania and Costa Rica in the group stages<\/a> of the 48-team tournament which gets underway in November.<\/p>\n![\"Head](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/00239b67-614.jpg\"\/)
\nO’Brien spent 12 months as manager of Shelbourne<\/p>\n