As expected Shane Long will miss the first leg of the Republic of Ireland's Euro 2016 playoff away to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday night. It didn't look good when Long was taken off early in the second half away to Poland last month but he could yet feature in the second leg at the Aviva Stadium.

Long will stay at Southampton for further treatment on his ankle injury to give himself a chance of making the return leg. The Tipperary man only needed 20 minutes to show what he could do against Germany and Martin O'Neill will also have Jon Walters back from suspension on Monday.

The Ireland boss started Daryl Murphy up front against the world champions last month so it would be a major surprise if the Ipswich striker didn't lead the attack on Friday night.

Murphy has yet to score an international goal but he did bag a hat-trick for his club at the weekend:

Brentford midfielder Alan Judge has recovered from a hamstring injury and will join up with the squad this evening. Charlton goalkeeper Stephen Henderson has been called up as cover for Keiren Westwood who missed training earlier with a foot injury and has since gone back to Sheffield Wednesday.

Rob Elliot and Paul McShane have also have been ruled out of the first leg but still no word on John O'Shea who is suspended for Friday. The Sunderland defender is nursing a hamstring injury and was ruled out of both legs by Black Cats manager Sam Allardyce.

Win or lose in the playoff it looks like Martin O'Neill will take charge of Ireland for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers: