Martin O’Neill expects the Republic of Ireland’s match with Georgia on Thursday to be difficult but in a group also featuring Wales and Austria, nothing short of a win against the second weakest nation will be good enough if their ambitions of reaching a first World Cup finals since 2002 are to be realised.
Having drawn 2-2 in their opening qualifier in Serbia last month, on the same night Wales and Austria won, O’Neill says the onus will be on Ireland to attack against Vladimir Weiss’s team. The campaign may still be in an embryonic stage but to lose more ground now could leave them with only an outside chance. “Every game is important,” O’Neill said. “It’s not like we have a 38-game campaign to claw points back. So we cannot afford to take teams lightly, not that we ever would have taken Georgia lightly because they have some very good players.”
There are unlikely to be too many surprises in O’Neill’s starting lineup, although Robbie Brady may start at left-back rather than midfield to make room for the creativity of Wes Hoolahan against a visiting side likely to sit back.
Ireland have been depleted by injury, with seven players ruled out at the beginning of the week, but all the key figures are available following confirmation James McCarthy is fit despite the concerns of the Everton manager, Ronald Koeman, who has asked for the midfielder to be “protected” following six weeks out with a groin injury.
McCarthy has not played since suffering the injury against West Bromwich Albion on 20 August but has looked sharp in training and O’Neill believes the chances of a recurrence are slim. “I think he is over the injury,” the manager said. “It’s more fitness than anything else that would be the concern. He has trained the last couple of days, he is feeling not too bad at all. He hasn’t played for a little while but he is fit and if selected he is ready to go.”
Koeman was not overly pleased with McCarthy being selected when asked last week, saying his inclusion was something he “had to accept”. Yet O’Neill has sought to allay fears by insisting the decision will be up to the 25-year-old midfielder.
“I would listen to the player and the player has come over here and trained,” O’Neill said. “He hasn’t played for a couple of weeks. Would fitness be a concern? Of course, and lasting the match would be a concern. If the injury has cleared up, I wouldn’t see that as a problem. I’ve been involved in club management for a considerable time – less so as an international manager.
“I have never played anyone who has arrived not properly fit against their will. That has never been the case and, in fact, as an international manager I’ve been pretty lenient about those particular things.”
Georgia may be obdurate opponents at home but they are notoriously poor travellers, winning one away qualifier in a decade – and that was against Gibraltar in a group that also contained Ireland. While Ireland have won all seven meetings, five of the six competitive victories were by a single goal.
Weiss’s young side, who face Wales on Sunday, did beat Spain in Madrid before the European Championship and they are hopeful of causing an upset in Dublin. “If we play against Ireland as well as we played in the first half of our game with Austria last month, I think we will have a chance,” said the defender Guram Kashia.
