Wes Hoolahan the silver lining to Ireland’s injury cloud

Hoolahan simply makes everybody else in the Irish team play better and, because they know they can give him the ball, his mere presence takes the pressure off his team mates, writes Liam Brady.

It might seem an odd thing to say, but Ireland’s difficulty could be Ireland’s opportunity in our World Cup qualifier in Austria this evening.

On the face of it, the bad news is Ireland have had to travel to Vienna with a badly depleted squad and will go into battle against an Austrian side which, despite their stuttering start to the campaign and a few injuries of their own, can still boast some very fine players.