Although eleven years separated his first international cap from his last, Daryl Murphy's 27 appearances for Ireland would suggest that his retirement shouldn't trouble Ireland greatly.
Yet, that 19 of those caps came after Murphy had turned 30-years of age hints at the dearth of options Ireland have going forward.
Without a reliable goal-threat, Martin O'Neill may now have his hand forced for future selections. Although one ten-minute Premier League appearance guarantees very little, Southampton's 17-year old Michael Obafemi is one such player the Derry man is well-aware of.
Born in Ireland to Nigerian parents, Obafemi has spent much of his life living in London. A product of Leyton Orient's academy system, the Southampton man has represented Ireland at underage level previously.
With Nigeria already known to be keen on the young forward, O'Neill recently spoke of his awareness that securing his services is a task he may need to fast-track:
With Obafemi, I think we have to look at these things. When somebody comes to the fore and gets on for a little while, I know these surges have happened before but yeah, we're keeping an eye on him.
Without a competitive fixture until the Nations League begins in September, Irish fans will be hopeful that O'Neill uses this time to convince players on the fringe of declaring for Ireland (Declan Rice, notably) to do so:
We have this little opportunity. If we had qualified for the World Cup, we might have had a different approach to the next couple of months and if that was the case, we would have used the games against Turkey and France to finalise a little group of people who would have got us there in the first place and then, perhaps, room for somebody like a young lad coming through.
But now, this opportunity is there for us to, and I hate to use the word experiment, because you still want to try and win the games, but I think it's the opportunity for us. We've got Turkey in March to look at younger lads, but also other lads who've only one or two caps. So let's have a look and see who comes through from injury.
Although some will take issue that O'Neill's understanding of a younger player still revolves around those who are "maybe 24, 25, 26, who may not have many caps", there will be some solace in the fact that he is aware what Ireland may have in Obafemi.
Regarding the more pressing issue of West Ham United's Declan Rice, O'Neill will undoubtedly wish to avoid another Jack Grealsh-esque saga with the promising Premier League centre-half.
