Door open for in-form Irish players to impress in Armenia

Stephen Kenny was giving little away when it came to team selection ahead of Saturday's opening Nations League clash with Armenia.

The Ireland manager would not even confirm that Josh Cullen would start the game following the news that the Anderlecht midfielder was not, in fact, suspended for the game.

Cullen has proved to be one of the most important players since Kenny took over the reins as Ireland manager and it is assumed that the former West Ham man has been one of the first players on the team-sheet throughout the past 20-odd months.

It has been widely reported that Kenny introduced many new players into the squad since taking over, and the manager used 24 different players in starting positions throughout the World Cup qualifiers.

And while a certain amount of consistency has appeared in the team in more recent games, as the side secured their first win last summer and then produced a range of impressive performances, the manager hinted that he may continue his policy of introducing new players.

"That’s a necessary part in the evolution of team building," said Kenny, when asked was he looking to look for better continuity in his starting XI from game to game.

"But nothing is set in stone," he added.

"It gives players room to get in with their form, like Michael Obafemi and CJ Hamiton, and Festy Obosele, who has different attributes, and he has emerged, and had a good season at Derby.

"Sometimes you have to make decisions if players lose their place; we would have felt Jamie McGrath would be with us as he did so well with us, but he hasn’t really played in six months so you can’t always predict how things will go with players at their clubs."

Ireland captain Seamus Coleman was also full of praise for the new players - a