Ipswich Town's Irish colony central to final Championship day

Should Ipswich Town confirm their immediate return to the Premier League by beating QPR, their Irish flock, led by captain Dara O’Shea, will be available for inclusion in Tuesday’s Ireland squad.

Ipswich Town's Dara O'Shea celebrates. Pic: Nigel French/PA Wire.

Heimir Hallgrimsson must await the outcome of Saturday’s final English Football League concluding day before finalising his squad for Ireland’s training camp and friendly against Grenada on May 16 in Spain.

Should Ipswich Town confirm their immediate return to the Premier League by beating QPR, their Irish flock, led by captain Dara O’Shea, will be available for inclusion in Tuesday’s squad.

Only the players of teams finishing between third and sixth will enter the playoffs from next week, thereby ruling out their participation for the trip to the sun.

Jack Taylor and Kasey McAteer will also be in Kieran McKenna’s squad at Portman Road for their 12.30pm showdown, kicking off simultaneously with the other 11 games.

Two other players were loaned out this season by Fermanagh native McKenna; Chiedozie Ogbene to Sheffield United as well as Sam Szmodics.

The latter could make the playoff cut with Derby County but we’ll address the other automatic promotion contenders first.

Any slip-up by Ipswich will afford Millwall and Middlesbrough opportunities to seal the second direct spot behind champions Coventry City.

Millwall, with former Ireland U21 full-back Danny McNamara in their ranks, will be promoted if the Tractor Boys fail to beat QPR and they defeat relegated Oxford United.

Will Smallbone is also part of Alex Neil’s Lions set-up but the loanee from Southampton hasn’t featured since sustaining his latest injury in March.

Corkman Alan Browne also has skin in the game.

He’s been a regular throughout the term for ‘Boro, on loan from Sunderland, but recent inconsistency means they must overcome playoff chasing Wrexham and also rely on both Ipswich Town lose and Millwall fail to win. More realistic is the playoff semi-finals on May 8 or 9.

Who joins them in that quartet is shaping up to form the biggest drama over lunchtime.

Ryan Manning and Finn Azaz definitely won’t be in the Ireland manager’s squad as Southampton are guaranteed a playoff but John Egan (Hull City) and Szmodics (Derby County) are battling to usurp Wrexham for the final berth.

Wexford native Thomas O’Connor returned to Wrexham from a loan spell at Peterborough United in January but hamstrung trouble ruled him out of the run-in. He has another season at the club under contract.

Hull host Norwich City knowing they’ll nick sixth through a combination of victory and Wrexham failing to win. 

They can also succeed by prevailing by one more goal than Wrexham's margin of victory or a draw will suffice if Wrexham lose and Derby fail to win.

The Tigers, with Egan joined by younger centre-back Cathal McCarthy in the squad, will achieve their mission regardless once Wrexham lose by one more goal than Hull's margin of defeat and Derby also lose.

The Rams square up to Sheffield United as the outsiders in the knowledge victory will sneak a playoff provided both Wrexham and Hull don’t win. A draw will do it in the unlikely event both of their competitors are beaten.

Elsewhere in the EFL, Johnny Kenny will be part of the League One playoffs with third placed Bolton Wanderers but there’s three from five candidates vying for the playoffs. 

Stockport County and Tyreik Wright’s Bradford City are in pole position for two but could technically be caught by a Luton Town side with Josh Keeley in goal.