There are times when Martin O’Neill’s reluctance to settle on squads of 23 players seems like indecision and others when it might well be taken for inspired. As James McClean limped out of training yesterday, the 29 players currently at his disposal somehow didn’t seem enough. Okay, the manager has plenty of options in most areas but at this rate he could still do with drafting in another wide man or two.
It was not, all told, a bad day for the manager with both James McCarthy and Glenn Whelan getting involved in a way that suggests they will be okay for Sunday's game against Poland. It must surely be just a matter of time, though, before the idea of starting Stephen Ward is formally discounted.
Concern over McClean's ankle problem, sustained in Monday's training session, means Robbie Brady is now being talked about in connection with two of the team's starting 11 places despite having played just 10 minutes of competitive football himself in a month.
Every opportunity
McClean, Ward and Brady all featured prominently in O’Neill’s autumn line-ups and the manager insisted he will give them every opportunity of being involved this time too.
Ward, though, spent the morning in the gym ahead of another medical appointment and he seems the least likely to figure given the suggestion that he is suffering significant discomfort from screws inserted in a broken ankle in December.
Darron Gibson’s chances must also be receding somewhat too given that he was sidelined again with a groin problem. But O’Neill seemed more hopeful about McClean and positively upbeat about Brady and Aiden McGeady whose main problem is the manager’s stated reluctance to rely on too many players who have not seen much club action in recent weeks.
“He was feeling his ankle yesterday after training,” said the former Sunderland and Aston Villa boss about the Wigan winger who has scored three goals in his last four Ireland appearances. “So he just tried it this morning but it is still feeling a little bit sore. There’s plenty of time, we think. But James doesn’t usually complain about things; that’s the point.”
Ward, he suggested, needs to get something done about his ankle problem very quickly if he is get some training done before the weekend but the others, the manager said, are moving in the right direction.
"They've done fine," he said. "I think Robbie was naturally a concern because of the calf problem but he has trained two consecutive days. Aiden didn't play on Sunday but he was available to play. Darron Gibson missed out again today. He's got a groin and yeah he's a bit concerned himself at the moment but Whelan has trained today and come through it so he's not so bad . . . ."
As the session finished, O'Neill was happy to talk up whoever the press asked about without giving anything much away regarding his intentions for Sunday. The manager spoke warmly about Robbie Keane's ongoing enthusiasm for the cause just as he would surely have paid tribute to Shane Long had he been required to.
Predicatably, he avoided providing any pointers on the goalkeeping situation either as David Forde stood a few feet away answering question about Shay Given's stated ambition to reclaim the number one spot.
Forde, like his rival, dutifully talked about the importance of the collective before commenting on his own improvement since inheriting the shirt from the Donegalman.
“Yeah, I think my game has improved ten-fold since Trap brought me into the side,” he said. “Even for the self-esteem and the confidence; that has certainly helped and that has come up. It’s just amazing, every time I come home and play for my country, even meeting up, I treat it as if it’s my last time. I really enjoy it and savour it.”
One flag
Forde is not, he insists, remotely resigned to losing his place but, he says, it will make no difference to his attitude if he does with the Galwayman adamant that he will prepare in precisely the same way regardless on the basis that he could still find himself involved from the early stages.
“I’m quite relaxed. As I said, I just want us to win and all I can do is what I do on the pitch. We are all under one flag. That’s how much it means to me. I just want to see us win and qualify really.”
Beyond that, he continues: “It doesn’t really bother me. If I’m playing or if I’m not, I’ll still prepare. I could be on in the first minute and that’s where you’ve got to be as a professional footballer, just focused and concentrated on the job ahead.
“I’m old enough and wise enough now to know what it takes to be ready for games at international level.
“I’ve got enough caps now to know I can handle it and deal with it. It’s a lot of speculation and to be honest I don’t really look into speculation, I just concentrate on what I have to do,” he concluded.
