If the rumours are true there will be two big surprises in the Ireland starting XI

Big calls.

Martin O’Neill likes to wait as long as possible before confirming his team – unlike his predecessor Giovanni Trapattoni who named his team six months in advance of Euro 2012.

The Republic of Ireland manager keeps players and media guessing until the last minute, and often throws some curve balls, usually in the form of Daryl Murphy starting instead of Shane Long.

For Ireland’s crucial Group E opener against Sweden at Euro 2016, the word amongst media in Paris is that O’Neill will leave Jeff Hendrick, who started the majority of the qualifying games, on the bench and instead start Stephen Quinn.

At the back, the word is that O’Neill will opt for the physical presence of Shane Duffy instead of either Richard Keogh or Ciaran Clark, both of whom started Ireland’s last competitive game against Bosnia last November.

Here’s the rumoured XI for the game:

Darren Randolph; Seamus Coleman, Shane Duffy, John O’Shea, Robbie Brady; Glenn Whelan, James McCarthy, Stephen Quinn, Wes Hoolahan; Shane Long, Jon Walters.

It’s worth stressing that this is still just a rumour and O’Neill does love to spring a surprise.

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10