Roy Keane, Shay Given, Dean Kiely, Kevin Kilbane and Andy O’Brien all sat out this morning’s training match against the Under 21s but are expected to be fit for Saturday's crucial World Cup qualifying match against The Netherlands.
Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy will, however, not know if Ian Harte is available for selection until the defender arrives from Leeds later today.
Meanwhile, as the hype builds in the lead up to Saturday’s big game McCarthy scoffed at the notion that his job is on the line.
"I suppose as a manager you are always on trial but I like to think I’ve passed my test with flying colours.
"When I first got the job some people said I was too young and too inexperienced and now here we are at the top of a World Cup group involving Holland and Portugal and still unbeaten."
"I am confident that at the end of my trial I’ll be found innocent," McCarthy joked.
A relaxed looking McCarthy was keen to emphasise he feels no extra pressure in the run up to Saturday’s game.
"I’m following our regular procedure in preparing for games and I’m certainly not going to change our formation. Remember we’re at home, if anyone has to adapt it’s the Dutch."
Though he doesn’t approach the game with any particular trepidation, McCarthy is still not keen to give his counterpart Louis Van Gaal any strategic advantage and therefore said he will not announce his team until an hour before kick-off.
McCarthy’s players are equally composed. Matt Holland and Steve Staunton even joked with journalists about possible headlines should either of them score the winner. ("Stan the man outshines Van the man" proving particularly popular, not to mention innumerable derivatives of the "Holland downs Holland" theme.)
Staunton even admitted that should Harte fail to recover in time he would have no qualms about taking a penalty should Ireland win one.
"I’ll step up if need be. No doubt."