Forde focus was my No 1 priority, reveals O’Neill

Martin O’Neill gave David Forde plenty of advance warning that he would play in Tbilisi because the manager didn’t want Shay Given’s return to the squad to become a major distraction.

“I hadn’t read too much about it but when I was being questioned about it (by the media), I felt it was becoming an issue,” says O’Neill, who informed Forde of his decision early in the week.

“Shay wanted to come back but he’d never been promised anything. It’s obviously difficult for him, to have played one competitive game for Aston Villa, although he was in really great form last year at Middlesbrough.

“I actually believe that, rather than bringing a fear element, I think him being involved should galvanise the other keepers. Competition is healthy.

“There is no doubt that Shay has vast experience. I have no doubt he wanted to play. I think he wants to come back and show what he is capable of doing and he may have felt he missed out in the last couple of years.

“All of those things came into the equation. I wanted David to know beforehand to give himself the opportunity to prepare for the game and have no issues.”

Injury problems also had a significant influence on O’Neill’s selection, with James McClean a strong contender to have started had he been fit.

“We need our best players available most, if not all, of the time,” says O’Neill. “Our squad is not that big. We haven’t got a multitude of players. The news coming from him a few weeks ago was that he felt that he was going to be okay. Wigan may have thought differently, there may have been a difference of opinion but, at the end of it all, I would have never forgiven myself if I had put him in and he hurt himself and picked up another injury. James felt strong enough with that particular injury but I was just worried he hadn’t played that much football, like a lot of our players. Like everything else, that was a concern. Anyway, he should play for Wigan and be ready for our games in October.”

Reflecting back on Sunday’s win, O’Neill offers an insight into his overall thinking by way of explaining his decision to give Stephen Quinn his first competitive start.

“He has shown a good character,” he says. “I saw him play against Stoke. Hull had a man sent off and he had a lot of work to do in that game. He did it willingly and I just thought he’d give us that bit of balance, knowing that Stephen Ward hadn’t played that much football. Aiden (McGeady) might let players go past him once or twice, and it gave us that little bit of balance. Maybe Robbie Brady and a few others might get into the Hull first-team now and play a few games, and the same with Darron Gibson. We were carrying a lot of players for this particular game and that was also a concern. A lot of players hadn’t played enough competitive football and I felt it might have shown.

“I’m not sure I’m really a horses-for-courses manager,” he continued. “I thought the team that I put out with Glenn Whelan (anchoring midfield) would allow James McCarthy and Quinn to get forward. I thought Glenn did very well in that role and had a lot of possession. We had two really fine goals, one an unbelievable goal and the other well worked. We need to do more obviously. Hopefully that will give them the shot in confidence.

“The whole idea of our formation was, number one, we were playing away from home, but I still felt we were capable of scoring. The idea was to get to Robbie Keane and give him a little bit of help a wee bit more quickly. That was the idea with Glenn being in the middle and the other two going forward as often as they could. At times it looked as if we didn’t get decent movement. I must have a look at it. We had plenty of possession at times considering we were away from home. We have to really work at things to exploit a few openings.”