Mystical O’Neill in just the tight spot he feared

He’s been described as many things during this changeable World Cup campaign but ‘Mystical Martin O’Neill’ could be one label Ireland’s manager is content with as he predicted this strange predicament facing his team in next month’s concluding qualifiers.

Even if the first priority of extracting six points from the pair of matches against Moldova and Wales is achieved, there’s no guarantee Ireland won’t be the odd team out when it comes to the eight best runners-up across the nine groups to reach the play-offs.

That was a situation O’Neill feared would unfold all of 14 months ago following the draw in Paris, thereby urging his side to avoid any risky territory by getting to Russia automatically as table-toppers.