The provisional 37 man Ireland squad for Gibraltar and Georgia next month

Of more immediate concern for O’Neill are next month’s Euro qualifiers away to Gibraltar (in Faro) and at home to Georgia, with the manager at pains to stress that Ireland can’t afford to take either game against the perceived group minnows for granted.

Sheffield Wednesday’s Keiren Westwood is one of five goalkeepers named in the provisional party along with David Forde, Shay Given, Darren Randolph and Rob Elliot, with O’Neill confident he will be fit after bruising a kidney during Saturday’s 2-1 Sky Bet Championship defeat by Ipswich.

Cunningham last played for the Republic in 2013.

Perhaps a surprise exclusion is Crystal Palace’s Damien Delaney.

The large squad, which features five goal keepers, will be shortened ahead of assembling on the evening of August 30.

O’Kane, who played for Northern Ireland at youth level, joined Torquay United from Irish League club Coleraine in 2010, before joining Bournemouth two years later.

Head coach Kakha Tskhadadze is expected to announce his squad for the game against Scotland in Tbilisi on September 4, and the aforementioned Ireland trip, later this week.

O’Kane’s Cherries team-mate Harry Arter, who made his debut in the friendly draw with England in June, is included despite struggling with hip and groin injuries.

Meanwhile, O’Neill has emphasised the importance of not dropping any points against Gibraltar and Georgia in order to keep their Euro 2016 qualification hopes alive.

Speaking at a press conference at the FAI headquarters, O’Neill said: “These are two very important games in our qualifying campaign and we are looking forward to them”.

Manager Martin O’Neill confirmed that he did not call up Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish to the squad but spoke to the player and his father recently.

“The situation with Jack is that I had a conversation with him and his father and I thought it was very, very fruitful”. England, naturally, would qualify for more tournaments than we would but it’s not an overnight decision to make at your leisure. He is a very good talent.