That does seem a bit risky. O'Neill doesn't seem to rate Doherty at all for whatever reason. So just to recap and for a bit of clarity, this is the list of players who have been dropped or have withdrawn from the initial 39-man squad:
We have injuries to two important central midfielders, yet he drops four more central midfielders from the squad. Kelly and O'Kane, in particular, have been in good form this season and O'Kane has impressed for us also.Goalkeeper
Colin Doyle
Defenders
Alex Pearce
Paul McShane
John Egan
Greg Cunningham (injured)
Matt Doherty
Midfielders
Jeff Hendrick (injured)
James McCarthy (injured)
Stephen Quinn
Liam Kelly
Eunan O'Kane
Alan Browne
Forwards
Kevin Doyle
Sean Maguire
Surely it would have made more sense to discard a wide player or two. As much as I like O'Dowda, he very rarely starts for Bristol City anymore. I don't think he's even scored a goal since moving there. He's living a bit of a charmed life in relation to making our squads but he does show glimpses of class in his little cameos, so overall I'm okay with him. With the form of McClean, Brady and McGeady I really don't see much use for Hayes or Horgan.
Egan is a bit unlucky too.
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