Is it too late for Martin O’Neill to send Everton a Christmas card?

This is exactly the sort of news Martin O'Neill wants to hear.

We hope Aiden McGeady and Darron Gibson have been keeping fit because they are both about to see some action. Everton boss Roberto Martinez has thrown coy out the window as he tries to shift on two underused midfielders in the January transfer window. Neither McGeady or Gibson, through respective form and injury issues, have featured much for the Toffees over the last 12 months. Martinez told reporters, this morning, that he was willing to acquiesce to their requests to be released in advance of Euro 2016. Both players are keen to play regular football before Ireland feature at this summer's tournament. McGeady has only featured once for his club this season after completely falling out of favour. He was linked to Celtic earlier this week but his wages - reportedly €50k a week - are proving a stumbling block to both loan and permanent deals. Martinez said, "We have had a lot of interest in Darron Gibson and Aiden McGeady and we need to sit down and consider what is the next step." He added, "It has been disappointing for them not to have enough minutes on the pitch and they need to be playing until the end of the season due to the opportunity of playing for Ireland in the Euros. "They deserve to have special attention at this stage of the season. They haven't played enough and now is a good opportunity to see if the second half of the season can be a good one." This would certainly please O'Neill, who has often stressed that he wants his senior players in the thick of things.