Ireland manager Martin O’Neill is giving James McCarthy every chance to prove his fitness ahead of the EURO 2016 qualifier against Scotland at Celtic Park.
The Everton midfielder injured his hamstring at the weekend as the Toffees played out a 1-1 draw with Sunderland and is now a major concern ahead of the trip to Glasgow.
But the Ireland boss believes that McCarthy is too important to the squad and is worth keeping around to see how his injury responds to treatment during the week.
Speaking to RTE Sport, O’Neill said: “He picked up that injury on Sunday so we’ve had less than 48 hours to digest it and see where we are with it. Each day injuries start to clear up; we’ll see closer to the time. But he’s a player worth keeping around just to see if that’s the case, because he is an important player for us.”
And O’Neill admitted that there is a real sense of a derby encounter ahead of the visit to the home of his former club Celtic.
“I don’t think you can consider this as anything else other than a derby game,” enthused O’Neill. “It has everything that would make up a derby so it’s very difficult to turn around and say that’s it’s just another game.
“It’s an important game, first of all because it’s a qualifying match but it’s also important because it’s against Scotland, and when the groups were announced... the Scotland thing, you thought about immediately. Scotland at home, Scotland away. I think you have to relish these games.”
O’Neill also believes that Aiden McGeady and James McCarthy will have no problem dealing with the hostile atmosphere awaiting the Scotland-born pair.
The Ireland manager paraphrased famous Irish writer and playwright, Oscar Wilde, stating: “Sometimes it’s not so bad to be booed, it means that you know people are thinking about you. It’s going onto the field and not being booed, I think is a problem because generally speaking, they’ve ignored you.”
