Martin O’Neill set to keep players on their toes in final warm-ups

It is hard to gauge just how much really depends on these last two friendlies but harder to believe that Martin O’Neill might really still be urgently crossing names out towards the end of the game against Belarus in Cork next week.

Still, if the aim was to keep people on their toes as Tuesday’s deadline approaches, the manager seems to have succeeded. Around half a dozen players head into this evening’s game against the Netherlands with an awful lot to play for – that must be something like a record for this time of year.

How many of them actually get to feature is quite another thing. Yesterday O’Neill named just one of his line-up for the game against the Netherlands at the Aviva Stadium, while two have been ruled out by injury.

However, he suggested that the team would include a mix of those who could do with playing well this evening and those who could just do with a game.

The former group is likely to include two from a midfield trio that must know they cannot all make it aboard the plane to France: Harry Arter, Stephen Quinn and Darron Gibson.

Hard to imagine

David McGoldrick is in contention for a start too and all will be under pressure to impress in a game that means rather less to most of its participants. The fate of the Ipswich striker, though, may come down to O’Neill’s final call on how many strikers to bring – for if, as he suggested this week that he might, he takes just four, then it is genuinely hard to imagine what the 28-year-old would have to do to play his way in.

John O'Shea is the certain starter, while James McCarthy and Ciaran Clark miss out. The Everton midfielder's groin injury is an ongoing concern and looks increasingly likely to keep him out of the Belarus game too but O'Neill made clear once again that matters would have to deteriorate considerably before his place on the place was seriously in jeopardy.

The same cannot be said for his club-mate Gibson. The 28-year-old made no secret of his frustration in Poland at not getting on but looks increasingly at risk this time around of being disappointed before he even makes the departure gate.

His decision to stick it out at Goodison Park through the later part of the season while Aiden McGeady dropped a division in the hope of getting game time has done him no favours.

While the former Celtic star's failure to make more of an impact in the Championship has only served to underline how far he has fallen, O'Neill still repeatedly praises his will to make the move and, in the process, damns the Derryman for his apparent lack of it.

“Darron has had a difficult time,” the manager said. “He hasn’t played the number of times that he would have liked to have done. But the fact he’s here and trying to do so is great news for us. He is a fine footballer with a bit of quality about him, but the number of times he has played over the last few seasons would be a concern.”

By the sounds of it, it might take more than an hour or so in a game like this to rescue the former Manchester United star's Euro ambitions.

Jeff Hendrick may be under a little less pressure to perform, one suspects, if he benefits at some stage from the policy of playing those who have not kicked a ball much at club level of late. And there should be a 134th international cap at some stage for Shay Given even if he starts the night on the bench, where he could, in the absence of Keiren Westwod and David Forde, be joined by Dundalk's Gary Rogers.

The lingering doubt over the squad may take slightly from an occasion that should be a special one with fans aiming to wish players well on their travels but some players still worried deep down that they not be travelling that far.

Poor campaign

Amid all the calculations, though, at least it is the Dutch that will provide the opposition. They arrive off the back of a poor campaign and without quite a few of their best-known stars; still, there is an attraction about the team, with its great history and traditions.

Kevin Strootman, Memphis Depay and Daley Blind are amongst the best-known players in a squad that is drawn to a significant extent from the Eredivisie but there be a fair bit of quality to "stretch" and "test" the Irish, as O'Neill puts it.