Numerous injury headaches for Martin O’Neill ahead of Bosnia showdowns

Martin O’Neill has a number of injury headaches to contend with as the Irish squad assemble in Dublin today ahead of Friday’s first leg of their European Championship play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Zenica.

According to the FAI, Rob Elliot, John O’Shea, Paul McShane, Alan Judge, and Shane Long will all be assessed by their respective clubs before reporting for international duty, with goalkeeper Shay Given and striker David McGoldrick already definitely ruled out through injury.

Despite hopes earlier in the week that he was over a hamstring problem, O’Shea suffered a setback on Saturday morning and failed to make the cut for Sunderland’s 1-0 defeat by Southampton, following which manager Sam Allardyce gave a bleak prognosis of the player’s chances of being able to feature in the Dublin leg of the play-off.