DERRY’S James McClean and Shane Duffy keep their places in the Republic of Ireland’s starting 11 to face France today (kick off 2 pm).
Martin O’Neill has just announced his team and keeps his faith in the team that beat Italy 1-0 last Wednesday.
The team is:
Randolph, Coleman, Duffy, Keogh, Ward, Brady, McClean, Hendrick, McCarthy, Murphy, Long.
The French side is:
Starting XI: Lloris, Evra, Rami, Koscielny, Sagna, Kante, Griezmann, Payet, Matuidi, Pogba, Giroud.
Meanwhile, manager Martin O’Neill has a had a swipe at the ticket allocation for today’s crunch game.
The Republic were initially allocated just 3,500 tickets for the game, but the Football Association of Ireland have managed to have that raised to 4,500.
Still, in the 59,000 capacity Stade de Lyon they will be massively outnumbered.
“The ticket allocation is something I do have a gripe about,” said O’Neill. “It’s totally disproportionate for a stadium of this size and this brilliance.
“For us, or any team that was going to be playing in the round of 16 here, to be allocated less than 5,000 tickets is, I think, pretty unfair, honestly.
“I’m quite sure a few gentlemen round about the place wouldn’t necessarily agree, but I think it is.
“It’s totally disproportionate, and not just because it’s us. It would be for any side.”
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