It feels like a Wes Hoolahan kind of night

Far from familiarity breeding contempt, Martin O’Neill’s still fresh memory of how hard-earned were Ireland’s six points against Georgia in Euro qualifying means he has spent much of his media time in the run-up to tonight’s World Cup qualifier emphasising just how difficult a challenge he expects.

Roy Keane also waded in on the theme earlier this week, branding as “insulting” one journalist’s description of the Georgians as “a lesser team”. And when O’Neill wasn’t looking as far back as the 2-1 away and 1-0 home win en route to France to bolster his case, he was referencing the opening game of this qualifying campaign in which, in his opinion, Georgia were unlucky to again lose by a narrow margin, this time 2-1 to Austria.

All of which is well and good and, really, only to be expected. Certainly, despite a ranking of 137th in the world, the Georgians fall into the “tricky customer” category rather than the one marked “cannon fodder” and, from a manager who even attempted to talk up Gibraltar before Ireland played them for the first time, anything other than an argument against complacency would be shockingly out of character.

But, all that said, it’s the challenge for the Georgians which should really be the daunting one tonight: Away from home against a team ranked 106 places above them and which, in the past 12 months, has beaten Germany and Italy, overcome Bosnia in a high-stakes play-off game and given the host nation a right scare at the Euro finals in France.

And, for all the column inches devoted to O’Neill’s injury pile-up over the last few days, it’s not as if Vladimir Weiss and his players will be facing a depleted Ireland at the Aviva. Options on the bench may have diminished but, with James McCarthy available for selection — even if, as O’Neill acknowledged, his fitness might still be “a concern” — and Shane Duffy back from suspension after missing the game in Serbia, the manager actually finds himself with the luxury of being able to field what he might well believe is his strongest possible starting XI.

So, all things considered, Ireland should be encouraged rather than intimidated by their billing as favourites tonight.

Reflecting on the big results of his time in charge, and the sense of pride as well as the boost in confidence which they gave the team and the nation, O’Neill said yesterday: “I don’t mind people having rising expectations. That’s what it’s really all about. But from my viewpoint, it’s dealing with those expectations and trying to have a realistic outlook about where we’re going and what we’re trying to do.

“Obviously, that’s to try and qualify for Russia, one way or another. There will be ups and downs and twists and turns as there are in every single group and, to come out of that, we’ve got to be as strong as we possibly can and, if we can, play to our maximum each game. And if we can’t play to our maximum we have to be as tight as we possibly can be.

“Getting to France was a great boost and the players were able to express themselves in the matches, in the Italy game in particular. I also thought we were excellent in the Sweden game. But that was tournament football. Now we have to go and try to qualify again. And these are games played in the middle of winter time, more tough games in March, and spread out over a long period of time — it’s all about trying to win these matches, particularly when you are not playing brilliantly.”

In that context, you can understand why O’Neill was so pleased with the point Ireland took from Belgrade when, having suffered the psychological blow of surrendering an early lead, they showed considerable resilience on a bog of a pitch to fight back and, through Daryl Murphy’s first goal for his country, snatch a 2-2 draw.

If ever there was a night when Ireland played far from brilliantly yet still got something from a game, that was it. And having seen his team struggle to retain possession against the Serbs, O’Neill admits he’ll be looking for improvement at the Aviva tonight, not least because he accepts that home advantage means the onus will be on Ireland to attack.

“I just think the players should feel more confidence in themselves to deal with the ball,” he said. “And dealing with the ball when you’ve got space is not what I’m talking about. It’s dealing with the ball in tighter situations, which the players are capable of doing. Sometimes we’ve gone through a 10-minute spell where we’ve given it away needlessly two or three times and then you have a heck of a job getting it back.

“Now the pitch (in Belgrade) was difficult but it was difficult for both teams. But there was a spell when we were giving it away and we had to fight through that.

“But if you’re asking me about one thing (which could improve), it would be ball retention. I think we can be better at that and, in fact, I think we proved it out at the Euros and in matches here when we needed to have the ball to score goals.”

All of which will be interpreted by many as a call to arms for Wes Hoolahan tonight although, in keeping with his habit of giving little away about team selection, O’Neill declined yesterday to say whether or not the Norwich schemer would start against Georgia.

But the manager did hail the player’s role for Ireland in the kind of circumstances which sounded very close to the scenario tonight’s game presents.

“Wes is a really important member of the side,” he said.

“His contributions are immense when he plays for us, particularly at home when you want to open teams up. He has been expert at that and he is still, regardless of his age, an important member of the team.

“His contribution at the Euros was immense — I thought his game against Sweden was the best he’s actually ever played for us in my time here.”

Hoolahan, like the rest of us, will have to wait to see if those words translate into selection tonight. But for all O’Neill’s wariness about the opposition, if Ireland can marry some much-needed composure and imagination on the ball with their customary all-out effort and, especially, the kind of high-tempo opening befitting a home qualifier against a beatable side, then Georgia — at least this evening in Dublin — should not really prove such a major stumbling block on the long road to Russia.