Martin O’Neill tempted with third place after good four days

After a week in which pretty much everything has gone his way, Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill admits to being now tempted by the idea of settling for third place in this tightly contested group and taking his chances in the play-offs . . . if only he had that option.

“It all boils down to two games now and given the particular two games we have, home and away, I think you would nearly have to take that,” he said.

“But who knows? If we go and play really strongly for 90 minutes in the game against Germany, then I don’t know. I’m relishing the game and I think the players are as well.

Perform

“We have to try and really put a show on if we can,” he continued. “We have to perform for the whole 90 minutes of the game.

“If we had a complete half like the first-half [against Georgia] then we might be in a bit of trouble.”

The introduction of Shane Long for the second half on Monday seemed to spark a much needed improvement in the Irish performance but, says the manager, "I think that Jon Walters was the catalyst for a lot of it.

“What Jon does, whether he’s playing on the right-hand side or up front, is that he tends to get hold of the ball, which is very, very important. I know from the old managers before that a lot of play can start up top with a top-quality centre-forward getting hold of it and Jon does that.

“And then he’s not frightened to go into the box. He’s shown a lot of courage and he’s been great for us, really great.”

Major impact

Former international Kevin Kilbane believes that the way the group is set up in the wake of a dramatic double header, is likely to have a major impact on both sides' approach to Ireland's next home game.

“It does change it,” says the former Sunderland and Everton star as he launched this year’s Sea2Summit, the annual adventure race on November 7th in Westport which serves as a fund-raiser for the John Giles Foundation and Down Syndrome Centre (see westportsea2summit.ie).

“The players will say all the right things in the lead up to the game but it does change things in a player’s mind – that it is not absolutely ‘do or die’ – that intensity does go out of the game because you know full well that if Scotland lose their game you are guaranteed third spot so there will be a lot of looking over at that Scotland game to see how they go.

“It suits us too, knowing that Germany will come here just needing that point. Are they going to go pushing it? One point guarantees them qualification. It does change the dynamic of the game and it suits Ireland, definitely.”

Past performances

It may be just as well because Kilbane believes that there is nothing in what we have seen from the Ireland team over the course of this campaign to suggest the Germans would be beaten if that was what was required.

“We’re all harping onto past performances but the results, the performances, suggest no. But I wouldn’t be too fearful. We can stop a side, that’s in the nature of us. It’s just whether we take a chance if we get one. That’s got to be a big factor overall.”

Anxious

As for Warsaw, the 38-year-old is a little anxious about Ireland ending up in too high a stakes finale to the campaign.

“You hope that Poland do the job for us [in Glasgow] but if Scotland win it’s a bit of a catch 22 because you can go to Warsaw looking to win the game to go second and qualify – while facing the prospect of defeat meaning elimination.

“Personally, maybe it’s a little pessimistic, but I’d rather have the third in the bag to be honest. Scotland get beat and then at least we have that playoff at the end of it, that’s the way I’d look at it really.”