Ireland may stay close to home before Euro 2016

Martin O’Neill has revealed that he is leaning towards “staying local” by basing his squad in Britain or Ireland in the run-up to Euro 2016.

“What we’re looking at, although nothing has been set in stone yet, is actually staying relatively local,” said the manager. “We’ve had the opportunity to go to a couple of places, Austria and somewhere else, but, knowing that the weather is going to be really brilliant here in Dublin, we thought that we might stay relatively local — local meaning (here or) within the UK. That’s what we’re looking at, rather than changing three or four different times.

“We would go to France five days before the first game and we’re looking at that period beforehand and actually in the build-up to the Holland game (on May 27) as well.”