Mixed news for O’Neill after updates on Gibson and Reid

There is long-term good news and short-term bad news for Martin O’Neill ahead of Ireland’s friendly against Serbia at the Aviva Stadium next Wednesday.

Everton are increasingly hopeful that Darron Gibson will be back in action just before their season ends but Nottingham Forest are now predicting Andy Reid will be out for longer than was initially anticipated.

Meanwhile, QPR have indicated that Richard Dunne will travel to Dublin for the Serbia game, despite earlier suggestions by the Ireland manager that he might be allowed to stay with the Championship club.

At Everton, Gibson has stepped up his comeback and is targeting a return for their final home game of the season against Manchester City on May 3, which means he could be in line to feature in Ireland’s early summer friendly fixtures.

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Gibson has been sidelined since suffering major knee ligament damage playing for Ireland against Kazakhstan in October. He was initially expected to be missing for the remainder of the campaign but manager Roberto Martinez is now hopeful that both Gibson and his other long-term casualty, Arouna Kone, can be available to tackle City.

Martinez said: “Darron is running now and progressing well and he is the more likely of the two. From a medical point of view we shouldn’t really expect either to be back before the end of the season.

“But to maybe have them back for the Manchester City game would end what has been a disappointing season for them both personally on a high note. They’re both important to our set-up and it would be an incredible achievement for Darron and Arouna if they could wear the Everton shirt again before the season finishes in May.

“Darron has always been ahead of the expected progress. So he has a small chance. Even if it’s just making the final home game, it would be terrific.”

While Gibson was always going to be unavailable for O’Neill’s first squad, the loss of Reid for the Serbia game has come up as a blow to the manager. Now it seems that promotion-chasing Forest will have reason to miss the Dubliner even more, with Reid likely to be out for up to two weeks’ longer than was initially expected.

Forest boss Billy Davies said: “Unfortunately we’ve lost Andy to a hernia. He’ll be having an operation this week but I’d expect him to be out for around four to six weeks after that.”

Although there is no official confirmation from the FAI yet of Mar O’Neill’s reduced squad for next Wednesday’s game, QPR were last night reporting on their website that both Dunne and Kevin Doyle had made the cut and would be travelling to Dublin for the game.