The first cut may well be the deepest, but when it comes to Martin O'Neill, the first cut is rather more gentle. While many of Ireland's Euro 2016 rivals are naming their final squads this week, O'Neill is content to string us all out a bit longer.
The friendly against the Dutch on May 27th has being earmarked as the final chance for many to make a final push for the squad and the key word there is 'many'. If we were looking for any hints as to the final 23 man squad, we're going to have to wait.
Ireland squad to face the Netherlands:
The big stories are the inclusion of Oxford United winger and Ireland u21 star Callum O'Dowda. Another point of interest is the fact that, despite a bit of a bandwagon building over the past couple of weeks, there's no place for Brentford's Scott Hogan in attack.
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— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) May 6, 2016