O’Neill looking for Ireland declaration

Martin O’Neill will seek a clear declaration of Stephen Ireland’s willingness to return to international duty before he considers recalling him to the Ireland squad.

While O’Neill has already spoken to the Stoke City man on the phone, he now wants to hold face to face talks with him to clear up, once and for all, his feelings about playing for his country again

“You either feel as if you want to come back or you don’t,” said O’Neill yesterday. “It’s as simple as that. This is not something where you think ‘I will come back in October time’. Absolutely, this is it. You have time to think about it now. I will also hopefully point out that, even if our choice may be sometimes somewhat limited, nobody is going to cakewalk into the team. And if you are prepared for those things then that’s fine. I don’t want a raging headline but, absolutely, just say ‘I would like to be involved’ and then the rest is up to me.”