Martin O'Neill says that the majority of his players will know if they are going to France well before next Tuesday's game against Belarus, but the remaining squad members look set to learn their fate after the game in Cork, with the manager still anxious, it seems, to resolve some dilemmas, primarily in relation to central midfield.

“I won’t announce the squad but by the weekend 90 per cent will already know if they are travelling,” said the manager after the extended group had trained in Abbotstown. “There are a couple of players who haven’t played an awful lot in central midfield and that might be an area where we’re having a look and waiting until the second game. If a lot of the players had played the amount of football I’d have liked then I might have made my mind up early.”

It should make for a hectic night in Cork with the game scheduled to finish less than 90 minutes before Uefa’s deadline for the submission of squad lists for the finals.

Hamstring problem

One of the most obvious choices, James McCarthy, missed training again yesterday as he struggles to shake off a hamstring problem. This is causing some concern to O'Neill, who seems far from certain that the 25-year-old will be fit enough to feature against the Netherlands on Friday or even, perhaps, Belarus, although he pretty much confirmed the Everton player will still be on the plane to France. "Even if he wasn't available on Tuesday," he said, "I would still like to take him as I think he's going to be okay."

Amongst those hoping to provide options for O'Neill in that area of the pitch are Stephen Quinn, David Meyler and Bournemouth midfielder Harry Arter. After missing much of the league's latter stages with an Achilles' tendon problem, Arter is one of those set to be given an opportunity to prove himself and his fitness over the next week, although O'Neill made it clear again yesterday that he is well-disposed to the 26-year-old who is still waiting to follow up on his international debut despite some impressive form for his club when he was fit.

“I like Harry,” observed O’Neill. “I think he is a really fine player who has been bedevilled by injury right from the start of a season he was looking forward to immensely because it was Bournemouth’s first in the Premier League. It’s been stop-start, in fact mainly stop. But he got in towards the end of the season and because he has a bit of ability, I think he is worth waiting on. We’ll see what happens.”

In with a shout

Arter is grateful to still be in with a shout but after a year in which his infant daughter Renee was stillborn, something he once again spoke of impressively yesterday, he says he will accept the decision, whatever it is, and move on.

“Football was something that helped me a lot at that time,” he said. “I’m passionate about football and when you have passion you can focus. Lucky for me, I have that.

“Of course it [being omitted] would hurt me. Yeah. It would be a disappointment but I have had bigger disappointments in my life so I am fully prepared for both outcomes and I will take massive confidence from even being considered and take it into next season.”