Martin O’Neill cuts four from 35-man provisional squad

The Ireland squad started their preparations for the European Championships at the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown on Monday morning with 24 players taking part in their first session together.

Martin O'Neill cut four players from his original squad of 35 before the players travelled in with Johnny Hayes, Alex Pearce, Paul McShane and Anthony Pilkington all now officially on standby rather than in the group itself - while David Forde, David Meyler and Keiren Westwood were absent due to their clubs' involvement in the play-offs.

Robbie Keane is due to travel from the United States on Monday after having played 90 minutes for his club, LA Galaxy overnight but Kevin Doyle is not expected in until later in the week. Aiden McGeady is in Dublin and trained with the group despite Sheffield Wednesday's game against Hull City at the weekend but Marc Wilson has remained at Stoke to continue his rehabilitation for the moment and James McCarthy skipped the first session of the week so as to have a scan on a muscle strain.

Amongst those who did take part in the session were Darron Gibson and Harry Arter while the two goalkeepers involved at this stage are Darren Randolph and Shay Given.

The squad is due to take part in an open training session at the Aviva stadium on Tuesday morning before returning to Abbotstown to resume their preparations for Friday’s friendly international against the Netherlands. O’Neill is scheduled to name his 23 man travelling party for the trip to France after training on Saturday morning.