THESE are angst-ridden times in the Republic of Ireland camp.
The news, when it came, was bleak for Robbie Keane. The 34-year-old was informed yesterday morning of a second fatality in his family caused by a sewer accident in County Dublin on Wednesday.
Stephen Harris, who had been inspecting underground pipes at a housing estate in the Portmarnock area, passed away in Beaumount Hospital in Dublin, just two days after the death of his brother Alan, leaving Robbie bereft and in mourning as the hours ticked down to this evening's Euro 2016 qualifying match against Scotland at the Aviva Stadium. The veteran still dutifully gave his all during training at the FAI's Malahide base yesterday but it was understandable if the mood at the pre-match press conference yesterday was rather more sombre than usual.
"It was obviously very bad news this morning, as well," said O'Neill. "So he [Keane] is not feeling great, I must admit. It is obviously very difficult for the family and he is quite down at the moment. I am hoping he will come round. Whether he feels he wants to participate in the game will be entirely his decision. I don't think you could ever question his professionalism. It is how he is feeling within himself as much as anything else. But he is not great, not great at all."
Compared to human dramas such as that, the usual aches and pains of football life seem utterly inconsequential, but the Keane affair was far from the only issue occupying the mind of the Celtic manager yesterday. Not least of these was the availability or otherwise of Aiden McGeady. The Paisley-born former Celtic winger was unable to participate in training on Friday due to the recurrence of a hamstring problem. While O'Neill said that had been "precautionary", and has a history of playing the winger whilst half fit, given the explosiveness required of a wide player in the modern game it would seem unlikely indeed that the Everton winger would start for fear of him tearing the muscle completely within 10 minutes.
"He is a bit sore from a few things that he has been doing," said O'Neill. "He felt not bad on Sunday, but he is sore now. So we will see how he is. He sat out as a precaution as much as anything else. But if he feels he is ready to start the game then that is something we would look at obviously. I will give him as much time as he needs."
While the likes of Southampton's Shane Long and Stoke City's Jon Walters play more regularly at a higher level than Keane in any case, McGeady was a certain starter whose absence would necessitate some major changes to O'Neill's outlook. While the likes of Wes Hoolahan of Norwich, Robbie Brady of Hull City and maybe even James McClean of Wigan Athletic could play a more creative role, those among an estimated 10,000 strong battalion of the Tartan Army looking for a pantomime villain may turn their attentions to James McCarthy. The 24-year-old plays for the Republic to honour a late grandparent, but his 27th appearance will be his first chance to feature against the country of his birth. There may be no truly world class player in either side, but McCarthy might just be the closest either side come.
O'Neill, who is also likely to welcome Stoke's Marc Wilson and Glenn Whelan back into his first choice XI, said that playing your best amid such difficult conflicted, circumstances was all part of the learning curve. "You have to be able to cope with these things," said O'Neill. "That is what makes players. Players for one reason or another have been booed by an away support for endless number of months. My own view is James should be able to cope and we will have the bulk of the support."
As well as players, matches like this can make or break teams and managers and this meeting at the Aviva Stadium could definitely come into this category. This was a fair old rearguard action from O'Neill in front of the press, considering his only real mis-steps to date have been losing by a late goal to Scotland in November and drawing at home to Poland.
"I've been dealing with it for about 24 years, so I haven't a concern," said a defensive O'Neill. "We got beaten by Scotland by a goal in the 75th minute or something and we drew with Poland and in the game before that we drew with Germany in Germany, they'd won the world championship about three months earlier. We won our first two games, one of which was away from home. I'm not so sure I think it's been a real stalling of the campaign but everybody views it differently, that's the nature of it."
Rather than quibble about the Republic of Ireland's performances under O'Neill, the truth - as he also pointed out - that Group D presents an absurdly difficult qualifying challenge compared to some of the Euro 2016 sections out there. In truth, while it may have been a joint project from the football associations of the Republic of Ireland and Scotland to expand the scale of these finals to 24 teams, it seems increasingly likely that only one of the two will make it. Events in the Aviva Stadium could well decide which one.
Republic of Ireland (probable, 4-4-1-1): Given; Coleman, O'Shea, Wilson, Brady; Walters, McCarthy, Whelan, McGeady; Hoolahan; Long.
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