Martin O’Neill leaves door open for Damien Delaney

Martin O’Neill has firmly placed Damien Delaney’s international future in the player’s hands by suggesting he won’t rule the Corkman out of his Euro plans if “he’s an interest in playing” for Ireland.

The Ireland manager was left perplexed by Delaney’s decision to withdraw from his squad ahead of their May 2014 trip to the US, subsequently questioning the player’s “enthusiasm” for representing his country.

For Delaney’s part, a statement last August outlining his reasons for quitting international football seemed to end any prospect of a return.

Still, the centre-back’s presence as a mainstay of a resurgent Crystal Palace side this season, at a time Ciaran Clark and Marc Wilson are no longer Premier League regulars, has generated a clamour for his comeback.

Those calls were fuelled at the weekend by comments from his Palace manager Alan Pardew indicating Delaney could “swallow his pride” by becoming available again.

Speaking on TV3 last night, where he made a cameo appearance as pundit for the Uefa Champions League tie between Arsenal and Barcelona, O’Neill opted to give hope of the Leesider adding to his nine caps in the run-up to this summer’s European Championship finals.

“It’s an interesting one with Damien,” explained the Derryman. “I’m in charge a couple of years but the summer before last, we had a collection of players together and a trip to America. Damien played in our match before that against Turkey but I think he felt he was never going to be first choice and declined to go to America. That didn’t augur too well.

“He said he’d make himself available if he’d a decent chance of getting into the squad or the team but I wasn’t in a position to actually make those decisions. I couldn’t guarantee anybody in the side. So we went our separate ways then. Don’t get me wrong, Damien has had an excellent season at Crystal Palace.

“He is on the wrong side of 30. He hasn’t played that many competitive games for the Republic of Ireland throughout his career.

“But I have to say the way we are in terms of centre-halves, if we get a few more injuries, I certainly couldn’t rule out anything. Particularly if players have an interest in playing.”

Meanwhile, an insight provided by O’Neill regarding his selection criteria for the 23-man squad should have the likes of Shay Given and Darron Gibson concerned for their places.

“The fitter the players can be at end of season, or at least in terms of games played, is very important,” he said.

“If you’re thinking about playing at the Euros, when you’ve maybe played only two or three games during the year, it’s just not going to work.

“There will be some experimentation in the friendlies next month against Switzerland and Slovakia.”

Although the contracts of O’Neill and Keane will expire in June, the manager seems relaxed about a renewal being brokered. "I don’t see that being a major problem."