KEITH O'NEILL is set to give Mick McCarthy some timely encouragement by returning to Norwich City's team for today's first division championship meeting with Stoke City.
Just days before McCarthy nominates his squad for the World Cup game against Romania in Bucharest on April 30th, O'Neill will fulfil one of the requirements for selection by playing for his club team.
It effectively ends speculation that the Ireland player had aggravated torn ankle ligaments when limping out of last week's game against Macedonia within half an hour of replacing Tony Cascarino.
"Although my ankle was sore for days after, I had been kicked in the international game - it was a case of bad bruising rather than the ligaments being damaged again," he said.
"I wasn't fit enough to play at Wolverhampton last week and at one point, it looked as if I wouldn't make the Stoke game either. But we need to win our last four games to make the play offs, so there is a lot of pressure on players to be fit.
"In this case, it suits me fine, for I need to be back playing before Mick McCarthy names his squad. And providing I'm not kicked again, my ankle should be that much stronger by the time we get to O'Neill's situation contrasts sharply with that of David Connolly, the unsettled Watford striker, who played alongside him in Ireland's end of season programme last year.
Connolly, hit by injury problems at frequent intervals this season, has been left out of the team for today's home game against York City and thereby forfeits his chance of making the World Cup squad for Romania.
His omission on this occasion has less to do with injury than contractual problems. The Irishman is out of contract at the end of the season and at this point, shows no desire to stay with the club in the second division.
Kenny Jackett included Connolly in his team for the first time in almost two months against Crewe last Saturday. However, with the difficulties over a new contract still unresolved, he promptly dropped him for the meeting with Chesterfield in midweek.
"It's regrettable in the sense that I'm now going to miss another Ireland game at a time when I believe I am fully fit, but since the problem is outside my control, I can only grin and bear it," he said.
That will do nothing to alleviate McCarthy's front line problems in Romania but significantly, he is dispatching one of his scouts to Roker Park where Niall Quinn is in Sunderland's squad for tomorrow's home game against Liverpool.
So far, Quinn's first team action since recovering from an operation to repair torn cruciate ligaments amounts to just six minutes as a replacement for Paul Stewart in the 1-1 draw with Newcastle last week.
That is scarcely enough to convince the Ireland manager that the player is sharp enough for the demands of World Cup competition, but depending on his fate tomorrow, that could change before the preliminary squad is announced.
"At this point, I am not ruling out any options and if Niall Quinn gets the chance of proving that he's quick enough and strong enough to come with us to Romania, I will, of course, take notice," said McCarthy.
Dennis Irwin, injured in the closing stages of Manchester United's European Champions League assignment in Dortmund on Wednesday, may miss his team's visit to Blackburn, but is expected to be ready for next Saturday's top of the table meeting with Liverpool.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Paul McGrath may return to Derby County's defence for the match against Aston Villa at the Baseball Ground after being unfit for the 1-1 draw with Southampton on Wednesday.
