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Martin O’Neill backs Jon Walters to shine for Ireland against Bosnia

Martin O’Neill is determined to reach Euro 2016 although he knows it is a relatively trivial pursuit. On Monday in Dublin his Republic of Ireland team contest the return leg of their qualification play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina and O’Neill is hopeful a sporting contest, and nothing else, will unfold.

“I don’t feel uneasy about the game,” he said. “It was horrendous, the events in Paris, and obviously puts a lot of things into perspective including football matches. I’m hoping the stadium is well policed and I’m hoping we will be OK.”

The hope, then, is the night will bring as dramatic a reckoning as can be served by that wonderful frivolity, a football match. For O’Neill and Ireland a campaign that began 14 months ago with a win in Georgia and has also featured a dispiriting defeat in Scotland, an epic victory over Germany and that fog-cloaked 1-1 draw in Bosnia, will be definitively declared a triumph or a flop.

Ireland go in with a slim advantage thanks to Robbie Brady’s away goal in Bosnia but the tie could still take twists aplenty at the Aviva Stadium, with extra time and even a nerve-shredding penalty shootout among the possibilities. And at the end, Ireland will be going to Euro 2016 ,  or they will not. O’Neill will sign a new contract, or he may not.

To secure passage to France ,  O’Neill will probably have to get some difficult decisions right.

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