James McClean set to train today ahead of Austria clash

James McClean is expected to join in training today before the Irish squad flies out to Vienna to complete final preparations for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Austria.

The West Brom man had been struggling with a back problem he picked up in training at his club but, in encouraging news for Martin O’Neill, it’s understood a scan has revealed no serious problem.

Before the results of that scan game through, Roy Keane had expressed his concern about McClean, saying it always worried him when a player complained of a “tweak” in the back.

But while the Derryman trained alone with a physio in Abbotstown yesterday, it’s believed it was for purely precautionary reasons.

There is also further positive news on Sunderland’s John O’Shea who continues to make progress in is recovery from a hamstring injury.

O’Neill will be particularly welcoming of any glad tidings on the fitness front, since he has already had to come to terms with the reality Ireland will have to travel to Vienna for the last match of the 2016 international calendar without Shane Long, James McCarthy, Stephen Ward, Daryl Murphy, Stephen Quinn and Cyrus Christie.