Shane Long is fit to face Moldova on Sunday evening after recovering well from the kick to the ankle that he received in Thursday's narrow World Cup qualifier win against Georgia in Dublin.
Long's injury had been a concern for Martin O'Neill as he looks to cope with the loss of Robbie Brady (concussion)and Jeff Hendrick (suspension) but both the striker and Everton midfielder James McCarthy are expected to start Ireland's third game of the campaign at the Zimbru stadium in Chisinau.
“Shane is fine,” said O’Neill ahead of the squad’s final training session before the game. “He says he’s okay and obviously that’s good news for us. James is fine too. There might have been a stage the other night where I thought he might not get through the game but he did. And that game will have brought him on. He’s not feeling too bad.”
Wes Hoolahan looks set to start too although O'Neill gave little away about his selection for a game which, once again, Ireland must win if they don't want to leave themselves under considerable pressure going into next month's trip to Vienna. The hope is, he said, that the players will produce a better performance than on Thursday but the priority, as ever, is simply to take all three points.
“We naturally think that we can play better than that and we hope to do that tomorrow if we can. But I think what’s getting lost here is that we actually won the game thanks to a piece of brilliance from Seamus (Coleman). We’re not the sort of team that’s going to wipe the floor with people. We have to fight for everything.
“They (Moldova) didn’t do so well in some of the matches in the Euros, they lost all of the ones at home, but they went to Russia and got a result. So the game will be tough. The game is at their place, they haven’t had a four, four and half hour journey to undertake over the last few days but that’s not to make excuses, it’s just the job that we’ve got to do.”
Coleman, who will captain the side again, was beside O’Neill at the press conference and said that the players are keenly aware that their first half performance fell far short of what was expected. He suggested that there is a determination to do better this time although he too maintained that winning remains the primary objective.
Responding to a question about the interview in a British paper in which he had talked about the way some young players became distracted by the trappings of the game at the expense, he believes, of improving their football, he ended up clarifying, to some laughter from the top table and around the room, that “I’m not against Instagram,” he said before adding, as the ludicrousness of it all clearly began to dawn on him too, “I’m not against washbags.”
The washbags mentioned had been Louis Vuitton and Coleman said: “that was slightly tongue in cheek. I just wanted to make the point that I think some of the younger players can get lost a bit before they’ve even established themselves in the game.”
Moldovan manager Igor Dobrovolski, meanwhile, admitted at his press conference that he could lose his job if his team cannot improve this weekend on decisive defeats in their opening two games but, he insisted, he sees signs of progress.
“I know that fans are not delighted with the results but I want to tell you that I’m pleased with what the players are doing despite 4-0 (Wales) and 3-0 (Serbia) scorelines.” O’Neill will be pleased with them too, if the trend continues.
