At the halfway point between Budapest and Prague, the Republic of Ireland are breaking even when it comes to injury and form.
Heimir Hallgrímsson must plan without midfield linchpin Josh Cullen after the Burnley captain sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury against Everton on December 27th.
Cullen has some chance of featuring at the World Cup in North America this summer should Ireland get there, but the 29-year-old will miss the play-off semi-final in the Czech capital on March 26th.
If Ireland win, they face either Denmark or North Macedonia at the Aviva Stadium on March 31st, with Jason Knight the likely replacement for Cullen alongside Jayson Molumby in the Irish midfield.
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Conor Coventry at Charlton Athletic and Bosun Lawal, who has impressed for Stoke City as a fullback, centre-half and defensive midfielder, offer alternatives to the more experienced pairing.
Molumby returned to the Ireland squad in October, having been overlooked in September before missing the Portugal match in Dublin through suspension. His ability to break up play proved vital at the Puskás Arena on November 16th.
Knight is the Bristol City captain, while Molumby has been in and out of a West Bromwich Albion side that includes Mikey Johnston, who leads the EFL Championship goal assist chart with nine.
Finn Azaz looks certain to continue as the Ireland playmaker having excelled for Southampton with five goals in the four EFL games immediately after his heroics in Budapest. With Sammie Szmodics injured, Johnston’s form makes him a strong candidate to fill Chiedozie Ogbene’s crucial role as an “out-ball” option behind the lone striker as Hallgrímsson’s team seek to punish a Czech team in transition.
Ogbene has been beset by injuries since taking the Premier League by storm as a Luton Town winger during the 2023/24 campaign. Having recovered from a ruptured Achilles tendon after moving to Ipswich, he was loaned to Sheffield United where he regained enough match sharpness to deliver outstanding performances against Portugal and Hungary before tearing his hamstring in Budapest.
Ogbene could still return, but if he cannot recover soon his loan to Sheffield will come under review. This would create a difficult situation as the 28-year-old cannot play for a third EFL club this season. To be fit for Prague, Ogbene might need a Scottish, European or even League of Ireland club to take a chance on him in the January transfer window.
Besides Johnston, Ogbene’s injury provides opportunity for Festy Ebosele at İstanbul Başakşehir and Sinclair Armstrong at Bristol City to show that they could fill an unglamorous yet vital job if Ireland are to open World Cup Group A against South Korea in Guadalajara on June 11th.
The alternative is to play Evan Ferguson and Troy Parrott together, an approach that was quickly abandoned by Hallgrímsson during a 2-0 loss away to Greece in October 2024.
The dream partnership of young strikers requires Ferguson to maintain fitness. The 21-year-old is out of Roma’s Coppa Italia tie against Torino tonight after sustaining back bruising during Saturday’s 2-0 defeat of Sassuolo.
It is Ferguson’s second injury during his season long loan from Brighton; an ankle sprain last November gave Parrott his moment to score five goals against Portugal and Hungary in an unforgettable three days.
“I swear it’s one of the hardest things I’ve done,” said Ferguson of the move to Italy. “I remember arriving for preseason, around a week after the lads had done their first week. When everyone came in from training, they were dead.
“It’s hard,” he told SportBible. “Every day is non-stop. It’s always on to the next, doing more. It’s a lot. I think when you come over, people expect things to happen straight away, but it just doesn’t work like that. It has taken some time. There have been ups and downs, but now I’d say I’m pretty settled.”
Before the latest setback, Ferguson had shown signs of adapting to Serie A with three goals in eight appearances despite a stream of criticism from Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini.
“I’ve had some difficult times,” he continued, noting an injury-disrupted two years since the hat-trick against Newcastle United in September 2023. “Listen, football is not an easy game. I came in, started off really well and then had a few injuries. I stopped playing and sort of lost myself. I lost a bit of confidence.”
Ferguson is not helped by Gasperini’s approach at Roma as he is forced to drop deep and take possession in isolated pockets of the pitch. That is how both the ankle and back injuries occurred as Italian defenders challenged from behind.
In stark contrast, AZ Alkmaar build their attack around Parrott’s natural finishing ability with the 23-year-old scoring 16 goals in all competitions this season to ensure that the Dutch club will have no problem turning a profit on the €8 million fee they paid Tottenham Hotspur in July 2024.
Ferguson has produced moments of quality, like his second goal at Celtic Park in the Europa League last month despite being closely marked by Liam Scales.
On Martin O’Neill’s second return to Celtic, the former Ireland manager reverted to a back four with Scales relieved of wing-back duties in the 4-0 defeat of Dundee United last Saturday when Johnny Kenny saw 18 minutes off the bench.
Kenny is set to be retained in Hallgrímsson’s squad in March as Adam Idah is out for three months with a torn hamstring.
Scales could continue at wing-back for Ireland, where he featured in November due to Robbie Brady’s calf problem, Matt Doherty’s wrist surgery and suspension to Ryan Manning. But to offset the loss of a leader like Cullen, the group arguably need their veteran fullbacks Séamus Coleman and Brady to report for duty in Prague.
Brady is creeping back from surgery while Coleman’s hamstring only lasted 10 minutes in his one outing for Everton since Budapest.
Doherty could feature at either left or right wing-back despite concerns around his consistency in a green shirt.
Over Christmas, the Wolves defender inadvertently ignited a war of words with O’Neill during the latter’s brief return to TalkSport.
In response to Doherty’s comment about Wolves’ abysmal run of results, when he wondered aloud on Sky Sports if his team-mates “want to be remembered for fighting all the way to the end of the season, or do we want to be remembered for being cowards,” O’Neill stated:
“If I was Rob Edwards, the manager, I wouldn’t listen to a word Matt is saying. He is a really, really good talker. But he wants to do a bit more playing. When you do plenty of talking like Matt there, generally speaking there is not that much behind it.”
TalkSport: “Sounds like you had a bad experience with Doherty?”
O’Neill: “The answers is yes to that.”
If only every Irish position was as healthy as the centre-half and goalkeeper.
Caoimhín Kelleher has become one of the most efficient goalkeepers in the world since the move to Brentford while Gavin Bazunu wasted no time, having been replaced at Southampton by Israeli international Daniel Peretz, in securing a loan to Stoke City where Jonathan Walters is the sporting director.
Nathan Collins and Dara O’Shea have been ever present as club captains for Brentford and Ipswich while Everton’s Jake O’Brien is set for a run at centre-back, rather than right-back, due to Michael Keane’s suspension. Scales and O’Brien appear to be battling for the third centre-back slot against the Czechs.
