Stephen Kenny has to go with whatever experience he can find in his squad for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier with Serbia, according to RTÉ Soccer analyst Paul Corry.
Ahead of the start of Kenny’s first campaign in charge, absenteeism has once again left the Ireland manager with a weakened hand.
Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer podcast, the former Sheffield Wednesday player picked out a starting XI he sees as best equipped to secure a positive a result.
Mark Travers would take his place in goal with Seamus Coleman, Dara O’Shea, Shane Duffy and Enda Stevens making up a back four.
Matt Doherty would take a place in midfield ahead of Coleman, with James McClean on the other flank.
Jeff Hendrick and Josh Cullen could make up a midfield pairing. Robbie Brady is the creative outlet behind the centre forward.
Corry believes it is a toss-up between Callum Robinson and Aaron Connolly for the number nine berth.
"People will say some of those players aren't in form, but you need to be able to graft out a result from somewhere," Corry believes.
"There are players in that starting XI that I have mentioned that have done that previously. Scoring goals will be a massive difficulty.
"The likes of a Brady in at number 10 could allow us to create and slip in a Robinson or a Connolly who has a bit of pace to run in behind. Other than that you are looking at keeping it tight. Playing Matt Doherty in front of Coleman make sense to me from that point of view.
"I'm sure there are people who think maybe we could look at a five at the back and that we have the personnel to suit that formation, but personally I don't see Stephen changing at this time."
Shane Duffy has endured the most difficult season of his career, completely losing form during a nightmare loan spell with Celtic.
Ciaran Clark could get the nod, but retaining some sort of continuity will be key for Corry.
"There is potential to bring in Ciaran Clark. But Clark and O'Shea are not familiar. Mark Travers is also new in goals so it would be a new three between the centre halves and goalkeeper.
"I think you need to put players together who have an understanding of how they would like to play. For that reason I would leave Duffy in beside O'Shea. I don't think we'll have a huge amount of the ball. Duffy's mistakes have been highlighted when playing out of the back at Celtic.
"I think if he can stick to the fundamentals which we know he is superb at from putting his body in the way and being aggressive and superb in headers. I think we could still be a real important player for us."
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