Martin O’Neill calls for cool heads in Vienna cauldron

The Irish team is preparing for an evening in Vienna which should be at once bone-rattlingly cold and hot as all hell. 

The undersoil heating in the Ernst Happel Stadion ensures that tonight’s World Cup qualifier won’t be threatened by a predicted heavy overnight fall of snow in the Austrian capital but, for Martin O’Neill, it’s beginning to seem that, after a pea-souper in Bosnia and a deluge in Belgrade, Ireland always bring the weather with them on away days.

“We’re in for an interesting game of football,” O’Neill deadpanned after being made aware of the forecast.