Martin O'Neill finally gave up any hope of Shane Long making the trip to Zenica last night when it was decided to leave the striker to continue his rehabilitation at Southampton on the basis that he might yet make Monday's second leg of the European Championship play-off against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Ireland manager had delayed making a call on the 28 -year-old until hearing from the club’s medical staff at what was effectively the last minute in terms of bringing him to the away leg. However he had earlier suggested that even having him back for the Aviva Stadium encounter would represent “a big bonus for us”.
Drafted in
Alan Judge has been cleared to travel while Charlton's Stephen Henderson has been drafted in to replace the injured Keiren Westwood. The latter is the third goalkeeper to withdraw from the squad since it was originally announced.
Rob Elliot had become the second earlier in the day when O'Neill had sounded a conciliatory note towards Steve McClaren by observing that Ireland currently have more fit goalkeepers to choose from than Newcastle United. Paul McShane was ruled out when word came through from Reading that he had suffered a setback in his attempt to shake off a knock.
And there was a fresh blow in training as David Meyler injured his knee blocking a shot from Marc Wilson in the end of session game.
“He’s had to come off,” said O’Neill afterwards, “so we’ll see how he is in the morning. Those types of things . . .” he continued with a shake of his head, “you think in the last training session it shouldn’t be too difficult just to try and stay clear of. It’s the last ten minutes of a training session; I think we know that we could easily pull out of that.”
The manager says he has a good idea of the starting line-up for the first leg but is still waiting to be sure that everyone else is fit to start before giving anything away.
On his contract situation, meanwhile, which hit the headlines in a couple of places yesterday, O’Neill insisted the situation remains unchanged with talks set to take place when the campaign is over.
New deal
He is, he says, keen to carry on regardless of whether Ireland qualifies at this stage and suggested that John Delaney has told him that the FAI is keen to see him sign a new deal too.
Asked if it could be taken for granted that he would lead Ireland at the European finals next summer if the next few days go well, he replied: “It will be hard to shake me off if we’ve qualified for France. I would be ecstatic if we did; I’d love to lead the team to France.”
The association would, of course, be ecstatic too given the money involved but it received some good news in the meantime with Three announcing it has renewed its backing for the association in a deal worth €8.9 million between now and 2020.
Unsurprisingly, the Bosnians are very anxious to make it to France too, as Lazio winger Senad Lulic confirmed in Zenica yesterday.
“We have a lot of experience in play-offs and we know what to expect,” he said.
“I think that we have matured now as a team and that nothing can surprise us. We’ve played in two play-offs and lost both times. I hope that this will be third time lucky.
“We have to be smart and tactically prepared, though. Nothing will be over after the first 90 minutes in Zenica, we have to play all 180 minutes at the same level. But playing at the Euros would be a crowning achievement for all of us and our country, after having made it to the World Cup.”
