Manager Martin O’Neill named his 23-man squad immediately after the game, and included skipper Robbie Keane and James McCarthy, despite both being injured.
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Tuesday night’s clash with Belarus ended in a 2-1 defeat for the Irish in Cork.
David Forde, Darron Gibson, Eunan O’Kane, David McGoldrick, Callum O’Dowda, Kevin Doyle and Harry Arter, who suffered a thigh injury in training on Monday evening, were the men to miss out. Keane said: “When you are away from your family and you are with the team for a long period of time, sometimes it can be frustrating, it can get boring if players are not playing. Any team that plays against us will know they will have to play, very, very well to get a decent result”.
The visitors had demonstrated little as an attacking force in the early stages, but it was they who took the lead in spectacular style with 20 minutes played.
O’Neill admitted the decision-making process had been a hard one: “I’ll tell you why the decisions are tough – they are tough because these lads want to play for their country and that’s the big issue”, he said.
“I should be fine”, said the 25-year-old.
Here’s our list of the main casualties and beneficiaries of the May friendlies, and the lie of the land heading into Ireland’s third-ever European Championship appearance.
Long netted a stoppage-time equaliser at home to Poland before memorably firing home the only goal in a 1-0 return triumph against Germany to have a decisive say in Ireland’s journey to France.
“It’s disappointing, but Harry is a young player and it’s only a matter of time that he is back in the group for the next campaign”.
Ihar Stasevich ran the midfield for Belarus, linking well with the men ahead of him to cause Ireland problems for much of the game. Jonathan Walters, who has also proven himself a major player over the course of the tournament to date, can do a job upfront, but he has latterly been used far more in a wide role both by Ireland and by his club Stoke.
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The reality is, Ireland have never been a national team that has gone out and beaten teams by three or four goals.
