Friendly fire will be good for Ireland

Tomorrow against Turkey at the Aviva Stadium, Ireland play the first of four games in three weeks in three different countries.

That kind of heavy end of season schedule always courts controversy and polarises opinion within the game. Club managers detest them, international managers need them and I suppose the players are stuck in the middle.

It’s easy to see why these games could be valuable for Martin O’Neill, with the start of qualification for the Euro 2016 on the horizon.