Martin O’Neill satisfied with handshake over new Ireland deal

Ireland manager Martin O'Neill has confirmed that he has shaken hands on but not signed his contract extension with the FAI, but the northerner insists that the arrangement is entirely satisfactory from his point of view.

Speaking after the Irish squad's training open session at the Stade de Montbauron, which was attended by around a thousand locals, mainly schoolchildren, and guarded by armed police, the manager said that FAI chief executive John Delaney had been keen to agree a deal in advance of the championship and that he was happy enough, in the end, to go along with that.

“I think that John felt, going into the Euros it might be a decent thing to do, so fine,” he said. “I’ve shaken hands with John. That’s all that’s necessary. I have trust in him.”

O'Neill said that he is happy with the way the squad's preparations but he still sounded somewhat uncertain about whether the his one really major injury doubt, Jon Walters, can complete his recovery and prove his fitness ahead of the Sweden game on Monday evening.

Walters did take some part in training but after the warm up he spent most of the rest of the time either working by himself with a physio then resting up. Asked whether the striker's absence on Monday would prompt a major rethink, O'Neill said that to some extent it would but that there were other players just waiting for their opportunity to shine.

“You don’t have to rethink everything,” he said. “We have a squad of 23 players out there every one of whom is very, very keen to play. People want to make their mark on the competition and if Jon’s not fit to play then somebody will get to step in and should do fine.

"Obviously, injuries have to be taken into considerations. We had Robbie Brady out there for a couple of days and Jon Walters....Jon has been a big part of the team and I think we have to wait to see (how he is). I have a decent idea of the side but the players are very very keen to start, a lot of them are and a lot of them feel that they have a chance of playing, which is good."