Ireland waiting on fitness of captain Coleman ahead of France clash

The 34-year-old Everton defender has a slight thigh strain and Ireland manager Stephen Kenny is prepared to wait until as late as possible before deciding if his skipper can take part in the tie at the Aviva Stadium.

"No, he is not ruled out, we will have to see how today goes. We train today," said Kenny on Coleman, at a pre-match news conference on Sunday.

"Seamus is a very good player. It's not so much his experience, it's that he's playing well at the moment. Experience is a factor, but his performances for Everton have been very good.

"For footballing reasons, he merits his place in the team because he has been playing very well for Everton and had an injury-free run and been able to train regularly over the last number of months and performed very well for Everton.

"He is the captain, of course, but we'll have to see on that."

Left wing-back Callum O'Dowda suffered a groin injury during Wednesday's 3-2 friendly victory over Latvia and while he too has yet to be ruled out, Preston's Robbie Brady has been drafted in as cover.