France 2016 is close enough now for tickets to the games next June to have gone on sale this week and, while Ireland’s place at the tournament certainly won’t be nailed down this afternoon, anything short of a home win against Scotland and a nation can start looking at alternative destinations for their summer holidays.
Aiden McGeady may have been labouring under the misapprehension until early last week that Ireland go into today’s game level on points with Scotland in the Group D table but Martin O’Neill, it was clear on Friday, didn’t need the situation spelled out to him by journalists.
The northerner acknowledged several times that the defeat in Glasgow last November has left his side needing to win this time but he remained defiant when it was put to him that there are suggestions from the opposition camp that all of the pressure is now heaped on his doorstep.
“That’s absolutely fine,” he said with a good natured tone but the definite air of a man who had a point to make. “We’re at home, we want to win the game. If that’s the message that they want to send out then I wouldn’t have a problem with that although I’ve always been of the opinion that you judge how you have done, if you like, at the end of the campaign.”
Ireland, he insisted, are not as far adrift in this campaign as some have been making out with a win having the potential to put the team above Scotland and right back in a strong position to secure at least a top-three finish.
He went on to express confidence that, given what went on at Celtic Park, a stronger Irish team playing this time with the advantage of being at home, is well capable of coming out on top at the second attempt.
It was firm stuff, put across with characteristic conviction. The only concern being his suggestion that the Scots hadn’t really caused his men too many problems that night in November. Andrew Robertson, Shaun Maloney and Steven Naismith might disagree on that one.
Despite the handful of clear-cut chances that Gordon Strachan’s side carved out last time, though, it still seems fair to expect a good deal more from the Irish this time around. Had they not conceded rather softly from a corner kick routine, their standing and prospects ahead of this game would be completely different. As it is, it’s worthwhile remembering that Marc Wilson, Glenn Whelan and James McCarthy were all missing, Jeff Hendrick picked up an early booking that left him fairly hamstrung and Darron Gibson was pretty much a bystander.
For different reasons, Seamus Coleman and McGeady had a poor enough night too and the Scots were, perhaps, fortunate to still have Grant Hanley on the pitch after a hasty early challenge on Shane Long.
Strachan’s side, in other words, were the better side that night but Ireland should be markedly improved this evening.
Handicapped
The visitors are handicapped this time by the loss of Hanley to injury and their manager has some significant calls to make. Charlie Mulgrew, whose own match fitness must be a slight issue after such a long lay-off towards the end of the season, could slip back into defence from the midfield area that he and Scott Brown did so well in when the two sides last met with James Morrison, in that instance, heading up the queue to fill his slot. Gordon Greer is another option at centre-back, though, while Matt Ritchie’s availability means Maloney could be employed in the deeper role.
O'Neill has, of course, some choices of his own to make. The manager said yesterday that he will allow Robbie Keane and McGeady to make calls on whether they will be involved this evening but it is hard to believe after the week he and his family have had that the striker would still be the preferred starter up front.
Assuming he is left out then Shane Long will get another opportunity to deliver in a key game which he should have a better chance of doing if Robbie Brady is on song when it comes to the set pieces.
McGeady, meanwhile, remains a major favourite of the former Celtic manager and the tone of everything said at yesterday’s pre-match press conference out by the airport still seemed to suggest that if the 29-year-old declares himself fit then O’Neill will name him in his side.
The tone of the tribute he paid to Wes Hoolahan seemed to indicate that he will be in there too which would effectively leave one place to be decided between Jon Walters and James McClean. The impact made by the latter when he came on against Poland counts heavily in his favour unless, that is, O'Neill thinks it was only so great because it was made from the bench and Walters comes into the game off the back of a very good season in the Premier League.
The Stoke City man seems likely to get the nod and if he plays out towards the right this time then he seems equipped to cause Andrew Robertson more problems than McGeady did last time although Strachan might well anticipate that by starting Alan Hutton and switching Steven Whittaker to the left.
There may well, in any case, be a fair bit of movement amongst the three Irishmen from the outset followed by changes as players tire and things open up, especially if the home side is chasing things.
Behind them, James McCarthy’s ability to impose himself on the game, break up the Scots’ midfield passing and drive his own team forward will be of critical importance.
It would certainly be a fitting occasion for the 24 year-old to deliver on all that promise and really announce his arrival as an international player of major substance.
He hinted at his capacity to do so during the second half of the performance against Poland which has been repeatedly cited this week as the level to which the hosts must aspire but the Poles, it must be remembered, were defending a lead through Ireland’s best period of that game and quickly showed when they eventually conceded just how they could get back on the front foot again.
Big result
It is a long, long time since Ireland got that particular balance sufficiently right to deliver a big result when it mattered but O’Neill seemed coolly confident yesterday that he is on top of the task. If he isn’t, or key team members simply fail to perform again, then his best hope of being in France next summer is probably the boys from ITV getting in touch while the rest of us can start thinking of holidaying at home.
