Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill appears to have closed the door on an international return for Crystal Palace defender Damien Delaney.
Delaney had previously made himself unavailable for selection for the Ireland team and was quoted as saying that "the future of Irish football does not lie with me" last April.
The in-form defender seemed to soften his stance recently and his Palace manager Alan Pardew had indicated that the Cork man could make an international U-turn ahead of the European Championships.
However, Delaney was not named in O’Neill’s provisional 40-man Republic of Ireland squad for the upcoming friendlies against Switzerland and Slovakia on 25 and 29 March.
When asked if he had spoken to the Crystal Palace defender, O'Neill brusquely replied: "No I haven’t."
When pressed further, the Republic of Ireland boss insisted that he is looking more towards the future and giving younger players a chance to prove themselves, rather than recalling the 34-year-old Delaney.
"I’ve got six centre-halves," he stated. "There’s people here who have done brilliant for me, who have helped us qualify.
"I’ve got one or two younger lads that are coming through like Shane Duffy that I feel have international football ahead of him. Damien is 34 and Shane isn’t."
"I’ve got six centre-halves. There’s people here who have done brilliant for me, who have helped us qualify." - Martin O'Neill
One veteran who O'Neill is looking forward to welcoming back to the fold is Stoke goalkeeper Shay Given.
Given is not named in the squad as he continues to recover from knee surgery but the shot-stopper remains very much in the Irish manager's plans and O'Neill had good news on his recovery.
"The reports on Shay are actually very encouraging," O'Neill said. "He’s almost back and has done number of days' training.
"I will call him this week but he’s definitely making good progress. If the matches had been in another two or three weeks I think he would have done as much as he could."
The Irish boss was also full of praise for Peterborough United's Chris Forrester, who earned his first call-up to the senior squad.
Forrester has impressed for Peterborough since joining them from St Patrick's Athletic in August and O'Neill revealed that he has had nothing but glowing reports about the 23-year-old attacking midfielder.
"He’s done very well," O'Neill said. "I watched one of the games he’s played in and the reports have been very good.
"I’ve had a voice message from Barry Fry to tell me how brilliant he is as well, which is hardly surprising from Barry."
