Seamus Coleman's fitness will be assessed by the FAI's medical staff this morning before any final decision is made on his ability to play in the Euro 2016 qualifiers against Germany and Poland over the coming week but the Everton right back is clearly a major doubt after failing even to make the bench for the Merseyside derby.
Coleman’s importance to the side means he will be given every opportunity to prove his ability to play a part in either or both games but the fact that he has been completely sidelined with a hamstring problem since limping out of his club side’s win over Chelsea almost a month ago makes him a highly unlikely starter against the World champions on Thursday while even the Poland game next Sunday, Coleman’s 27th birthday, looks improbable.
Limited options
Martin O’Neill will, however, want to keep as many options as possible open given that he will be without
Glenn Whelan
or James McClean for the Germany game because of suspensions while
Stephen Quinn
,
Harry Arter
and
Ciaran Clark
miss out due to knee, groin and quad muscle injuries respectively.
Marc Wilson made the trimmed down squad announced over the weekend despite ongoing concerns about his problems with a calf strain but having gone from 40 to 27 players on Saturday night, O'Neill opted to call Darron Gibson back in despite the fact that the Everton midfielder, who played his first 18 minutes of competitive football this season at the Hawthorns on Monday night, didn't get on against Liverpool.
Christie a contender
Two uncapped players,
Alan Judge
and Eunan O’Kane, will be in the group due to train at Abbotstown this morning while
Cyrus Christie
is likely to attract attention over the coming days. Despite his inexperience and the case to be made for
David Meyler
, he will be a serious contender to replace Coleman in the event that the 26-year-old is formally ruled out.
Ireland’s defensive concerns come as strikers for the team’s opponents showed strong form at the weekend.
Poland's Robert Lewandowski scored twice for Bayern Munich as they beat Borussia Dortmund 5-1, while Thomas Müller also got a double.
