O’NEILL WON’T RISK McAULEY FOR FRIENDLY
RANGERS
BY STEVEN BEACOM GARETH McAULEY has returned to Rangers from Northern Ireland duty because boss Michael O’Neill doesn’t want to risk him picking up an injury against Israel tomorrow.
The 38-year-old new Ibrox defender has not played this season after being released by West Brom in the summer.
McAuley joined up with the Northern Ireland squad for training last week but did not feature in the 2-1 home defeat by Bosnia & Herzegovina in their Nations League opener on Saturday.
And after discussions with O’Neill the veteran will not play in tomorrow’s friendly with Israel at Windsor Park.
The Northern Ireland boss admits it’s more important for McAuley to settle in at Ibrox and get game time under Steven Gerrard than it is to play in a game with no points are at stake.
O’Neill said: “Gareth won’t be a part of Tuesday night. He will return to Rangers. It would be unfair to ask Gareth to play in an international after two or three days’ training.
“The worst thing for me is for Gareth to be put in that position and he possibly picks up a knock and it sets him back.
“He knows what’s best for him and I’m in total agreement with that. The most important thing is what he does with Rangers between now and when we play again in October.
“Hopefully he gets game time as well but training with his new club alone will give him a chance.”
While McAuley needs time to get up to speed, Rangers team-mate Kyle Lafferty would have scored for Northern Ireland at the weekend but for the quick reactions of the Bosnian keeper.
O’Neill revealed he chose the 30-year-old ahead of other in-form strikers such as Liam Boyce and Will Grigg based on his two-goal performance in the thrilling 3-3 Premiership draw with Motherwell at Fir Park last month.
O’Neill said: “We went with Kyle based on him having a good start at Rangers. I liked what I saw at Motherwell. You have to go with your instinct.”
Aberdeen star Niall McGinn also earned something of a surprise start against Bosnia.
The Pittodrie favourite had a fabulous start to the game causing havoc down the right flank and was unlucky to finish on the losing side.
He said: “I was delighted O’Neill gave me the nod as it was my first international start for a while.
“When big Josh (Magennis) picked up a wee niggle I thought I might get a chance to get in from the start as I trained well all week.
“Michael said I looked sharp in training and thankfully he gave me the opportunity and I thought I did well in the game.
“I knew my job was to get at the full-back, get crosses into the box and create chances for the strikers and I was really enjoying the game.
“I felt comfortable. I was getting on the ball plenty and into good positions but losing the game was a big disappointment.
“Now that I have been in from the start I just want to keep playing. The manager will probably freshen things against Israel but I’m looking forward to the game.”