James McCarthy will play no part in Ireland’s final World Cup qualifier in Wales tomorrow night as the Everton midfielder has returned to his club.
McCarthy was not named on the substitutes bench for Friday’s clash with Moldova but remained with the squad until today in the hope that he would be fit to face Wales in this must-win match in Cardiff.
Ipswich Town forward David McGoldrick has also left the camp and will not feature against Chris Coleman’s side.
But manager Martin O’Neill still has a strong squad to choose from and while Ireland have to win the match against the Euro 2016 semi-finalists, the manager admitted that there would still be an element of caution to their approach as the team had 90 minutes to win the game.
Ireland now know that a win by any margin in Cardiff will suffice to book a play-off place after Scotland drew 2-2 in Slovenia, with an automatic place still an outside chance.
And O’Neill believes that recent events, fresh in the memory, will help his side to achieve their goal tomorrow night, most notably, beating Italy in Lille at the France tournament.
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"We have got 90 minutes in which to try to get a goal. I think our approach will be quite similar to the one we had against Italy in Lille, where we knew before the game that a win was the only thing that mattered for us," said O’Neill speaking at this afternoon’s press conference in Cardiff.
"I thought we played with a lot of verve, a lot of determination, got out, closed Italy down very, very quickly, and a lot of that will be necessary tomorrow night – but we created some chances and finally took one with five minutes to go in an epic game.
"It's not that far back in the memory that the players shouldn't consider it when we are approaching this game.
"But obviously, whatever game-plan we have, we are going to try to utilise it as best we possibly can.
"I think there's a bit of everything in it, I think there's a bit of patience – I think you can be too patient, but at the same time, at the end of 90 minutes, we have got to find ourselves in front.
"I think we are capable of doing that."
While most of the talk in the build-up to tomorrow’s match centred around Gareth Bale and the effect his absence would have on the Welsh team, the Ireland manager was quick to name-check his own captain, Seamus Coleman, who is also missing.
Of course, Coleman picked up his injury in the reverse fixture in Dublin where the Everton defender broke his leg, and O’Neill also believes that the players will be playing with the captain in their minds.
"Bale is a top class player and he will be missed by Wales. It would be the same if Messi was missing for Argentina, he is a world class player and he definitely will be missed by Wales.
"Seamus is also a top-class player. We’ve missed him now for a number of games so we’ve had our absentees in the past ourselves and we’ve had to cope and Wales have had to cope without Gareth Bale before.
"I don't know about revenge, but certainly I think the view among the players is that if Russia was available to us and we could make it there, I would think Seamus would be very much at the forefronts of our minds, anyway."
And the Ireland manager appeared quite content to allow his Welsh counterparts to be afforded the favourites tag ahead of the game.
"Do you know what? It doesn't really worry me because we have to win the game. They are playing at home, so they have an obvious advantage there.
"But we had to take that into consideration when the group format was first put in front of us and it's there for tomorrow night, so it's all to play for."
Of course, there remains an outside chance that Ireland could actually qualify automatically for the World Cup with a victory, provided that Georgia beat Serbia in Belgrade.
And while it appeared a nice notion to ponder for the manager, O’Neill believes that it would be a big ask for Georgia to secure the shock away from home.
"Well that’s tough in Belgrade, I must admit," said O’Neill.
"It would mean that they have to win the game. Serbia’s loss against Austria would put them under a little bit of pressure, there’s no question about that.
"But I think that would be a tough ask for Georgia to win there."
