JOHN O'Shea has called for international matches between England and Republic of Ireland to be played on a biennial basis after Wednesday night's atmosphere at Wembley left him hugely impressed.

This week's 1-1 draw was the first meeting between the two sides since a 1995 friendly at Lansdowne Road had to be abandoned because of crowd violence.

Wednesday's game passed off without incident, and the Football Association have already given their counterparts in Dublin an assurance that they will cross the Irish Sea for a reciprocal fixture.

The English FA are understood to have proposed two dates - November 2014 and February 2015 - as potential slots where they could travel to Ireland for an away game.

The match would have a huge symbolic significance, and O'Shea is hoping this week's events are the start of a regular series of fixtures between England and Ireland.

"I think the games should happen every couple of years because we're neighbours," said the Sunderland centre-half, who won his 88th international cap at Wembley. "The atmosphere between the fans was fantastic.

"There are fantastic memories growing up from watching Ireland vs England games, and young lads around the country will get inspiration from watching that."

O'Shea produced an impressive display as Ireland restricted England's attackers to a handful of chances.

Playing alongside former Middlesbrough centre-half, Sean St Ledger, the 32-year-old underlined his enduring ability and cemented his place in Giovanni Trapattoni's side for next month's friendly with Georgia and World Cup qualifier with the Faroe Isles.

Ireland need to see off the Faroes to maintain their push for second place in Group C, and O'Shea is hoping Seamus Coleman and Shane Long reproduce the form that saw them link up for Ireland's eye-catching opening goal on Wednesday.

"Our goal was exceptional," he said. "But we know we have players capable of doing that and that's what we need to produce on the big occasions going forward in the latter stages of the group.

"It was a fantastic ball from Seamus. Probably in everyone's head they were going, 'Why have you overhit it?', but then the next thing, bang, the Tipperary man (Long) comes out of the sky with a fantastic header.

"We've seen that from Shane for numerous years in training and with West Brom. He's fantastic."