Heat will be on in more ways than one

A squad of 23 players landed in Tbilisi last night, after striker Anthony Stokes failed to make the final cut and goalkeeper Keiren Westwood was forced to withdraw with tonsillitis.

All remaining players had come through a morning training session in Malahide without further injury scares before flying out of Dublin.

“Westwood had to go home,” Martin O’Neill confirmed. “He is pretty ill. He has been isolated for the last couple of days. It’s a real shame. Anthony Stokes won’t travel with us. James McCarthy is fine, he has trained the last couple of days. Jon Walters has also trained and I think at the moment has had no real reaction, which is very healthy and good news.”

As the start of the serious business of the manager’s international reign looms ever closer, the heat will be on in more ways than one in Tbilisi tomorrow evening.

Temperatures in the Georgian capital are currently peaking at over 30 degrees and even by kick-off tomorrow (8pm local time, 5pm in Ireland) they aren’t expected to have fallen below the low to mid-twenties.

“That will be very interesting, yes,” said the manager. “I would imagine if it’s going to be as hot as they say it is then you might have to make obvious adjustments. It is played in the evening time but temperatures might still be up. I’ve never been to Georgia but obviously the experiences of before with people I’m listening to say it can still remain pretty hot in evening time. All of those things will bear some consideration when we come to Sunday.”

Still keeping his selection cards close to his chest on the very eve of the game, O’Neill noted that those on the bench could also end up with a significant role to play “It’s a matter of choosing your substitutes carefully,” he said. “This was the whole idea of the game against Oman way back when I felt some players who didn’t play any football would force their way into the 23. Obviously, Darron Gibson because of injury but also Stephen Ward and Kevin Doyle. Even though they had been involved in Wolves they had not played any first-team football until Stephen went to Burnley. He’s played a League Cup game. I had to take all that into consideration. Fitness is going to be very important and we’ll treat it accordingly.”