Minds back on the job as D-Day dawns for Ireland

After a late night of starkly contrasting fortunes, James McCarthy and Shane Long were up bright and early yesterday to fly into Dublin and take a full part in Ireland squad training at Malahide.

For McCarthy, the closure of the transfer window on Monday had brought elation, his move from Championship club Wigan to Premier League outfit Everton finally confirmed with just minutes to go to the deadline.

But for Long, the 11pm cut-off had brought only bewilderment as his proposed surprise move from West Brom to Hull City was scuppered just when it seemed to be over the line.