Long losing fitness fight

Shane Long has lost ground in his race to be fit for next weekend’s European Championship play-off against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It was hoped that the striker would be in line for a return for Southampton in their game against Sunderland tomorrow but Saints manager Ronald Koeman yesterday ruled out Long’s last chance to get an outing with his club before the first leg of the play-off in Zenica next Friday.

Ireland’s goal hero against Germany suffered an ankle injury in the final group qualifier against Poland in Warsaw, forcing him out of the 2-1 defeat which consigned Martin O’Neill’s team to the play-offs.

There had been conflicting accounts of his progress since then, with O’Neill reporting last week that while Long remained “optimistic”, the manager himself felt the player’s availability would be “touch and go”.

Now it certainly looks that way with Long set to miss his fifth game in succession for Southampton tomorrow.

“Shane is still missing,” Koeman said. He was close to coming back and he was able to do some training with the first-team on Wednesday. But he is still not 100% so he is not involved for the weekend.”

Better news for Ireland is that John O’Shea is back in contention for Sunderland ahead of the visit of the Saints.

Already ruled out of the first leg of the play off against Bosnia through suspension, there had been fears that the centre-half would also miss the second leg in Dublin, on Monday week, with a hamstring injury.

But Black Cats boss Sam Allardyce yesterday revealed the Waterford man has resumed training and suggested that, barring “any reaction to (his) first training session back in the squad”, he would be available for selection tomorrow.

Meanwhile, although that 1-0 win against Germany might not have been enough to help Ireland towards automatic qualification for France 2016, it has had a beneficial effect on the team’s world ranking.

The latest Fifa ratings show Ireland up 12 places to 42nd.