Ireland stepping out in new home

Having upped sticks from Malahide, the Irish squad will get a first taste of their new Dublin base when they step out on Pitch Number One at the National Training Centre in Abbotstown this morning, to begin preparations for the European Championship double-header away to Gibraltar in Faro on Friday and at home to Georgia in the Aviva Stadium on the following Monday.

O’Neill reduced his provisional 37-man squad to 28 at the weekend, with Brentford’s Alan Judge, Reading’s Simon Cox, Newcastle’s Rob Elliot and Celtic’s Anthony Stokes all being placed on the stand-by list.

Forced out through injury from the original panel are Sheffield Wednesday’s Keiren Westwood, Preston North End’s Greg Cunningham, the Ipswich Town duo of Daryl Murphy and David McGolddrick, and Bournemouth’s Harry Arter, who has undergone surgery in a bid to resolve a persistent groin problem.