O’Neill says McClean will come good again

Martin O’ Neill believes the second coming of James McClean will triumph over second-season syndrome.

Having made an explosive impact on the Premier League scene 12 months ago, the Derry winger has found the going harder in his follow-up season in the top flight but the Sunderland manager says that was only to be expected.

“With James, we sat here a couple of months ago and we were talking about this second season syndrome, and I was hoping that it genuinely wouldn’t be an insurmountable problem for him,” said O’ Neill.