More in hope than any real sense of expectation, one suspects, the FAI are set to offer the job of managing the Ireland team to former Celtic boss Martin O'Neill over the coming weeks.

With the three-man committee overseeing the recruitment process only having met for the first time yesterday, no firm decision on an approach has been made yet.

But the former Northern Ireland international is widely admired within Merrion Square and the feeling is that it would be foolish to simply assume he will not take the post on the terms they are in a position to offer.

O'Neill is currently taking time away from football while his wife battles cancer.

Having left Celtic in May there seems little reason to believe he could be tempted back with an offer of managing a slightly down on its luck Irish team but he has not to date ruled himself out of the running despite his representatives being made aware of the FAI's interest.

His habit since starting in club management of getting the best out of teams while working with limited resources marks him out as an ideal candidate for the association which is looking for somebody who is blessed with extensive motivational skills.

The problem is that there is no reason at this point to believe O'Neill will make himself available any time soon and, even if he does, the FAI would face stiff competition to hire a man who is seen as being extremely marketable.

The financial constraints on the association alone make a deal look unlikely.

O'Neill, it was revealed over the weekend, is still being paid £500,000 per annum in "consultancy fees" by Celtic.

Given that Gordon Strachan says that he has not talked to his predecessor since July, the arrangement is, in reality, likely to be merely a way for the Glasgow club to secure first refusal on his services in the future.

Even the retainer, though, is 50 per cent more than Brian Kerr's annual salary over the past 12 months and it is well short of what O'Neill would be earning if he was actually working for the money.

Assuming O'Neill does decline the offer, the challenge of putting together a deal that looks attractive to a coach with any sort of proven ability will be a serious one for John Delaney as he looks around for Kerr's replacement.

Even the most poorly paid managers in the premiership are reported to earn £600,000 a year, just short of twice what Kerr received, while Mick McCarthy is said to have more than doubled his Ireland salary by taking over at Sunderland where he is on an estimated £750,000 per annum.

FAI officials are acutely aware of the problem and cite Stuart Pearce as the sort of figure, a young and inspirational coach who could command the respect of both senior and emerging players, they are looking for.

The former England defender's rapid rise perfectly illustrates the association's predicament, however, for when Kevin Keegan left Manchester City the club insisted on a trial period before confirming Pearce as his replacement.

At that point somebody like Pearce would have looked like quite a gamble for the association. Now, just a few months later, they simply couldn't afford him.

If that really is the end of the market that they want to recruit from then somehow they will have to spot potential in somebody who has yet to prove himself and then heavily back their judgement.

Otherwise, they could opt to choose from some of the more established names that are bound to make their interest known.

Amongst the first to do so is Phillippe Troussier, a former coach of Nigeria, South Africa and Japan who also applied for the post three years ago.

On that occasion, it is believed, an attempt was made to cobble together a deal under which Troussier would take over with Kerr as his assistant.

The Frenchman is said to have agreed that in the event he failed to guide the team to the finals of Euro 2004 he would step down in favour of the Irishman.

The arrangement apparently fell through because neither Kerr nor the required majority of the then FAI recruitment committee would support it.

Delaney, meanwhile, hinted on RTÉ radio yesterday that Kerr's inability to produce a rabbit out of a hat during last week's draw with Switzerland had been one of the key points against him when the board considered whether or not to re-employ him on Tuesday night.

"The style of person I'd like to see would be somebody who can get the best out of the players we have, somebody who can make tactical adjustments when required at the highest level when things need to be changed during matches and somebody who is committed to managing the side," said the association's chief executive when asked about prospective replacements for the Dubliner.

While Kerr's commitment to the job could never have been questioned his performance in the areas mentioned have been amongst the things he has been criticised for in recent months with many feeling that he had not got the best from the players or made the required switches, particularly during the last game of the campaign.