James McCarthy is still firmly in contention to start tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier against Georgia after training against in Abbtstown today.

The midfielder had not trained with his club prior to joining up with the Ireland squad at the weekend but Martin O’Neill believes that he is over the groin problem that required surgery four weeks ago with only match fitness an issue as he weighs up which team to go with.

“I’ll listen to the player,” says the manager. “He’s over the injury. Would his fitness be a concern? Of course, and lasting the match would be a concern. But he has trained over the last couple of days and I think (that he thinks) he’s fit and wants to go if selected.”

O’Neill accepts that the onus is on Ireland to attack a side they have beaten in seven out of seven previous meetings but warns against the danger of taking anything for granted against a visiting team whose defeat of Scotland in the recent European Championship campaign helped catapult Ireland to the finals.

“Every game is important,” he said. “It’s not like we have a 38 game campaign to claw points back. So we cannot afford to take teams lightly, not that we ever would have taken Georgia lightly because they have some very good players.”

Despite all of the injury problems, just about all of O’Neill’s regulars are, pending a decision on McCarthy, available for selection and the manager has decisions to make in defence and midfield with the positioning of Robbie Brady, as always, set to have a knock-on effect.

Wes Hoolahan’s chances of starting would be boosted if the Brady is played at left back but O’Neill would not be drawn on whether the Hoolahan is likely to feature other than to suggest that: “At times, particularly when you want top open up a team, he has been excellent and I think the game against Sweden was his best for Ireland during my time but I have not announced yet whether he will be involved on this occasion.”