Robbie Brady’s set-piece expertise a big part of Ireland’s game plan

Robbie Brady's suggestion in the wake of Friday night's win over Switzerland that his set pieces might prove important in France this summer seems all the more prescient after a weekend in which Robbie Keane joined the exodus of strikers from the Ireland squad.

Martin O’Neill was said to have been weighing up calling back one or two of those who were cut from his squad of 40 last weekend.

However, it is not clear if he thought better of it or whether Simon Cox and Anthony Stokes had made alternative plans once it was confirmed that they did not feature in the manager’s top 33 players.

Both are likely to have looked at other ways of spending June in anticipation of being omitted from the squad of 23, but O’Neill must be concerned that, having been reduced to just one fit natural striker for the game against Slovakia, his options will be terribly weak in the event that some of his A-listers are actually struggling when the European Championships come around.

Brady again looked vulnerable at times when he was defending on Friday night but the quality of his delivery from corners and frees makes his inclusion somewhere in Ireland’s starting 11 look increasingly important to the team’s chances of generating goals.

“My job in the team at the minute, not my only job, is to take set-pieces when they come about, so it’s vitally important for me to be on point, especially going into such a tournament like this when that could be the difference,” Brady said.

“If I just put it in there and keep putting it in good areas, then we have got a great chance of scoring a goal. I’ll be practising now until the summer and hopefully I can put in a few good ones and a few to remember.”

Finishing concerns

Shane Long’s failure, late in the first half, to convert what looked a clearcut chance to head home a Séamus Coleman cross, renewed concerns over his finishing. But the greater problem just now is that with Keane gone, he is the only fully fit out-and-out striker in the squad.

If that were to happen in the course of the European Championships then the options for O’Neill would be severely limited. Apart from anything else, Ireland’s approach would inevitably be more predictable as a result and so easier to counter.

Brady, for instance, can be played at left back and can, in the event that Ireland play with the diamond O’Neill employed at times over the tail end of the campaign, be relied upon with Coleman to provide width.

This would be one of the scenarios in which a second striker could be deployed.

With the average age of the five who made his final squad last week exceeding 32, it seems that O’Neill might have to resign himself to having at least one or two struggling at any given time.

Lack of options

The manager might well contend that a couple of those who have been allowed to go home now would be declaring themselves fit if the Slovakia game was a competitive one but his lack of serious options is clearly still a factor.

Only Adam Rooney can be said to have been unavailable for these games and while he has a handful of players who can play off a striker, he would surely welcome one or two more of quality that actually play as one.

As it is, Ireland scored in the last eight games of their qualifying campaign, but take Gibraltar out and they only managed to score more than a single goal once in those matches.

Robbie Keane has made one appearance from the bench since his anonymous first-half performance against Georgia.

Kevin Doyle did well enough before getting injured the other night but in a more competitive environment he would presumably have lost his place by now, and Daryl Murphy started both play-off games despite now having made 20 international appearances without scoring a single goal.

The club form of Long and Jon Walters provide some comfort just now but confidence is another matter.