Don’t Nic qualifier limelight

TONIGHT’S referee has previous with Ireland and Martin O’neill wants him to use ‘common sense’ in the derby atmosphere. Skipper Seamus Coleman, Jon Walters, Stephen Ward and Glenn Whelan are all walking a yellow peril tightrope. A booking tonight will rule them out of the home qualifier with Austria in June. Italian Nicola Rizzoli takes charge and was the man in the middle for Ireland’s last 16 defeat to France at Euro 2016, where he sent off Shane Duffy. He was also in charge of the 1-1 home draw with Scotland in the Euros qualifying campaign, after which O’neill was critical of him. And Rizzoli also oversaw the crushing 6-1 home defeat to Germany under Giovanni Trapattoni’s watch in 2012. O’neill insists his team does not have disciplinary problems, but again rapped Robbie Brady for his ‘daft’ booking in Austria which rules him out tonight. Brady kicked a ball away to prevent a quick Austrian throw-in deep in Irish territory and has paid a costly price for his moment of madness “The way referees pull out yellow cards these days... if there’s something in their pocket they might as well show it,” said O’neill, below, last night. “Players get booked rather easily now. Two bookings in a set of matches, it’s almost certain players will get suspended and we’ve had that. “You’re looking for the referee to have a common sense approach. If it’s a bookable offence, he should book the player. “But some referees want to show their authority very early and then get themselves into tricky situations later on.”