Bittersweet.
The last Ireland training session in Versailles brought with it some absolutely fantastic sights.
Jon Walters was back in team training, kitted out and looking healthy.
The Stoke player hasn’t featured at Euro 2016 since coming off in the 65th minute of the opening game against Sweden, struggling with an Achilles injury.
But he was partaking in training on Friday morning at the Irish training base.
Roy Keane confirmed afterwards that the attacker did “a bit more. He joined in with possession.”
At the start of the session, the squad was divided into those who played on Wednesday and those who didn’t. Unfortunately for the players who didn’t play, they were going through a much more intense bout of training that involved quite a bit of running. Walters was there going through it too and, when they split off into possession games, he was bouncing around, planting both feet and changing direction with seemingly no problems.
The bad news is that Stephen Ward didn’t train.
The left back, who has deputised in a really solid way in the last two games, was complaining of an ankle injury after the Italy match and he sat out the session in Versailles.
That would be a huge blow for the team because the natural response would be to move Robbie Brady to full back again. The Norwich man was bloody brilliant against Sweden from that position but he has been unworkable from midfield in the last game and a half and it would be a massive loss to Ireland’s attacking strength.
Martin O’Neill’s other options would be to deploy right back Cyrus Christie there or David Meyler – who came on against Germany in that role. Neither have featured in this tournament so far though.
He could also look at moving John O’Shea or Ciaran Clark – the axed centre back pairing – out to the left where both have played before.
Still, Jon Walters’ race to be fit for Sunday has begun. And he’s looking good.
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