Options waiting on the wings

By half-time on Saturday against Bosnia-Herzegovina, it seemed like we might be seeing the first real change in Giovanni Trapattoni’s seemingly settled starting XI in well over a year.

As many anticipated, the energetic, fearless James McClean was forcing most of the team’s openings on his very first start. At the very least, then, he was giving Trapattoni a lot to think about and making a strong claim to be Damien Duff’s leading counterpart on the other side of the pitch.

At half-time, however, Aiden McGeady came on for Duff himself and gave what was arguably his best performance for Ireland. The Spartak Moscow winger wasn’t just energetic. He was exceptional, upping the ante in every sense. And thereby exceedingly hard to drop.