Bournemouth’s Eunan O’Kane has been named in 37-man Republic of Ireland squad to play Gibraltar and Georgia.
Fellow uncapped players Alan Judge and Adam Rooney have also been included in the extended squad, which will be reduced ahead of assembling on the evening of 30 August.
Defender Greg Cunningham has been recalled to the squad. There is no place for Crystal Palace defender Damien Delaney.
Manager Martin O'Neill confirmed that he did not call up Aston Villa's Jack Grealish to the squad but spoke to the player and his father recently.
O'Neill said he remains hopeful of convincing the midfielder that his international future lies with Ireland.
"The situation with Jack is that I had a conversation with him and his father a week or ten days ago. I thought it was pretty fruitful and, Jack, I think he will decide very, very shortly," he said.
"This is not something for overnight. This will take him for the rest of his career at international level so I can understand that.
"He and his father agreed that it’s about time they were going to do something about. Fine, if he’s worth waiting for that in that sense, not necessarily for me, but for the future of ourselves then so be it. He’s got age on his side and a very decent talent."
Meanwhile, O'Neill has emphasised the importance of not dropping any points against Gibraltar and Georgia in order to keep their Euro 2016 qualification hopes alive.
Ireland currently sit in fourth place in Group D and cannot afford any slip-ups, however with Scotland facing Germany, and Poland also facing the World Cup champions in early September, there may be the chance to make up some lost ground.
The two games, while on paper perhaps the least taxing of the Group D campaign, are crucial if they are to maintain any hope of qualifying for next summer's finals in France.
The 1-1 draw with Scotland at the Aviva Stadium in June represented a significant blow to their chances of claiming even a play-off berth, and they can afford no slip-ups if they are to remain in the mix.
The Ireland boss said: "If we come out of these games with six points, it will be interesting to see how the table stands."
One of O’Neill’s predecessors as Ireland manager, Brian Kerr, is not as optimistic that Grealish will commit his future to Ireland.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Drivetime, Kerr said O’Neill and his management team may have missed the opportunity to sway the Aston Villa youngster when they did not bring him on the mini-tour of the US in 2014.
Kerr said: "I got the feeling that after discussions with Roy Hodgson that maybe he was more likely to go the other way. It’s hard to know.
"Yet, he’s not in this squad so that would indicate that the discussions didn’t go well enough for him to say ’I’m in. Do you want to put me in? I’m onside’.
"I don’t know what fruitful means in that case, but it’s disappointing that we haven’t got to the end of this story. We await the announcement of the England squad over the next week or so.
"It’s an awful lot of pressure on him (Grealish) and you can understand him, living and playing in the environment he’s in, if he decides to go in that direction.
"It’s just very disappointing after how outstanding he looked to me as an underage player and when I seen him perform in the 21s. I thought he looked exceptional.
"We may just have missed the boat. I thought the opportunity was there to bring him to America on the tour last year. That was the one before his profile was so high."
Republic of Ireland squad:
Goalkeepers: David Forde, Shay Given, Keiren Westwood, Darren Randolph, Rob Elliot
Defenders: Richard Keogh, Marc Wilson, Seamus Coleman, Cyrus Christie, John O’Shea, Alex Pearce, Ciaran Clark, Paul McShane, Stephen Ward, Greg Cunningham.
Midfielders: Jeff Hendrick, Harry Arter, Glenn Whelan, James McCarthy,Eunan O’Kane, Aiden McGeady, James McClean, Alan Judge, Robbie Brady, Anthony Pilkington, Stephen Quinn, David Meyler, Wes Hoolahan.
Strikers: Robbie Keane, Shane Long, Daryl Murphy, Jon Walters, Kevin Doyle, Anthony Stokes, David McGoldrick, Adam Rooney, Simon Cox.
