Martin O’Neill will use tomorrow's friendly with Iceland to give the Republic of Ireland’s young guns a chance to impress.
Daryl Horgan, Conor Hourihane, John Egan and Andy Boyle could make their debuts.
O'Neill feels the occasion is right to explore his options:
“There will be some players who will play for the first time tomorrow”
“It’s a balancing act between getting some players some international experience and who are actually deserving of the cap, that’s a call I have to make.
“There are a couple of lads who have gone home John O’Shea has gone back to his club, Jonathan Walters and Glenn Whelan so they won’t play.
“In fairness to clubs it is a friendly game, some of the lads who played on Friday night who are still with us cetainly won’t start in the game and might not participate at all.”
“You don’t want to give out caps just because they are there, you want them to earn it. But obviously for experience we would want that.
“Some players who have just come into the squad, like the two lads at Preston have acquitted themselves very well in training and they are basically just starting out in their international careers.
“Others who have been around the squad but haven’t played regularly may well play as well and whatever length of time they have on the field tomorrow evening, it’s a chance to try and impress and that is what they will try to do.”
