John O'Shea is convinced Seamus Coleman and Matt Doherty can be accommodated in the same Republic of Ireland team.
And he hopes manager Mick McCarthy is posed with even more of these ‘positive headaches’ over the course of the campaign.
But O’Shea has warned Doherty that his pal Coleman will be in no mood to surrender his position despite criticism of some club performances this season.
Doherty has been in superb form for Wolves as a right-wing back while Everton full-back Coleman is still captain of the national team.
Coleman’s form has been up and down this season but he rallied in recent weeks and McCarthy stuck by him as skipper for the opening qualifiers.
Ireland stalwart O’Shea retired his green jersey last summer but was encouraged by the six-point haul against Gibraltar and Georgia that leaves Ireland top of the group.
McCarthy does not believe the Doherty-Coleman experiment worked in Gibraltar when they were paired down the right flank.
And he dropped Doherty for the Georgia game and only brought him on in the dying minutes of the game.
But O’Shea said: “They can play together as they’re two very good players. They’re both natural right backs.
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“Matt would prefer to be playing in that right-back role but has a fantastic player ahead of him and the captain at the minute in Seamus.
“It’s a nice positive to have in the sense I wish we had more decisions like that to make around the rest of the pitch.
“All Matt can keep doing is performing like he’s doing at club level with Wolves – another fantastic win for them again the other night.
“If he can do that it gives Mick a tougher question now and again but Seamus Coleman, knowing the person he is, will be ready and able for that challenge.”
O’Shea was versatile in his Ireland days and Doherty might have to be to find a home in the side.
But McCarthy is not a fan of playing players out of their natural positions and a left-back role for Doherty is not on the cards.
“Enda Stevens did fantastic there in the two games and is having a fantastic season with Sheffield United,” added Reading defender O’Shea.
“They could easily be in the Premier League soon. Mick will love to have these decisions to make as it means the lads are competing very highly at club level and challenging.
“Getting the chance to have more players in the Premier League will be something all Irish fans want to see going forward.
“It increases the competition level in training and hopefully leads to better performances on the pitch.”
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