If the losers of Tuesday night’s draw with Slovakia were easy to identify, the winners weren’t exactly hiding their lights under a bushel either.
Martin O’Neill feared Rob Elliot’s season could have been ended by a knee ligament injury, while Paul McShane – with one own goal and one Slovakian assist to his name – will not look back on this friendly with any great fondness.
If those two men’s Euro 2016 hopes died a death by the banks of the Dodder, a couple more did their hopes no harm at all as Republic of Ireland manager O’Neill admitted his 23-man travelling party was taking shape.
“I have to get pretty close to it now. Of course the players have matches to negotiate now at club level and I understand, particularly if people have something to fight for, it is all thoughts on club football, but I would have a fair idea about the squad.”
Against Switzerland it was defensive hopefuls Shane Duffy and Ciaran Clark making their cases for inclusion but on Tuesday it was all about the attack.
Wes Hoolahan, James McClean and Shane Long stamped their passports with performances that ran the gamut from masterful to disruptive to threatening, but it was in midfield where a young Derry man made his own mark.
Eunan O’Kane was the uncapped Bournemouth midfielder behind Harry Arter in the Euro queue before these friendlies but two solid performances, coupled with Ater’s unfortunate injury, have seen him enter O’Neill’s thoughts.
“Young O’Kane came into the game with a bit of confidence and I thought he did very well,” said O’Neill.
“I think he should be pretty pleased with himself and his contribution in the two games was very good. He tried to get into it. I didn’t really want him to play wide but if he had to go wide to receive the ball then fine, he dealt with it pretty well. It is all good for him.
“As regards the squad, why shouldn’t he be in my thoughts. The feeling was, with one or two of the lads if they didn’t make the 23 [for Euro 2016] they are bang in line for the World Cup qualification games.”
It is difficult not to read significance into O’Neill’s comments about O’Kane finding possession on the wing after Alan Judge failed to impose himself in s similar role on Friday.
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Overall O’Neill was pleased with the 2-2 draw, which saw both Long and McClean score from the penalty spot in the first half after Southampton striker Long was twice fouled in the box.
“I thought the first half was very good. The second half was naturally disrupted with a lot of substitutions and momentum was lost by both teams, really.
“The first half I thought, besides the poor goals we conceded, from our viewpoint anyway, I thought there were a lot of positives, I thought we played a lot of attractive football.
“The idea we had was to get the full-backs in advanced positions and they contributed well to a really decent first half.”
Cyrus Christie can expect to travel to France as understudy to Seamus Coleman, who O’Neill considers, as a full-back, “one of the best in Europe”. Stephen Ward’s second European Championships is seeming a lot less fanciful than it did 12 months ago.
Shay Given’s route to Euro 2016 is also looking more smoother by the day. Out of his post-Euro 2012 retirement, the Stoke goalkeeper has regained his place, lost it due to a knee injury, seen his club’s starting goalkeeper’s season ended before two days later an international rival goes down with a similar ailment.
A trip to the home dressing room before a spot of punditry allowed O’Neill to assess the 39 year old in the flesh.
“Obviously the injury to their goalkeeper at Stoke has hastened things on for him. I think he was down to play two games in relatively quick succession, I think on Monday, but those plans might change now with [Jack] Butland being injured.
Four days is a long time in international football, but the next two months could seem like an eternity for those on the fringes.
