I’m disappointed at Michael’s comments and I let him know, I’ve NEVER taken a senior player off him

MARTIN HITS BACK AT ‘FALSE’ ACCUSATIONS

MARTIN O’NEILL stopped short of tearing into Michael O’neill over his incendiary comments about the perceived targeting of players north of the border by the FAI.

But there was no mistaking the Republic of Ireland manager’s simmering fury at some of the accusations made by the former Shamrock Rovers boss. “In terms of senior football, he had to admit the other day that I’ve never taken a player from him – not one player,” said O’neill yesterday. “In fact, it’s quite the opposite as he has taken Alex Bruce dur- ing my time here. Interestingly, he played two games and didn’t play any more.”

O’neill insists he still has a good relationship with his Northern Ireland counterpart ... but oh to be a fly on the wall when they next bump into each other.

As for Michael O’neill’s hopes of a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ between the pair to prevent the Republic chasing players aged 17 to 21? Yeah, don’t bet on it.

As Martin O’neill pointed out, what good would such a deal be considering both men won’t exactly be in their respective posts for life.

No. His message was clear. While he won’t go out of his way to step on Northern Irish toes, the Republic will continue to play by the rules set out in the Good Friday Agreement.

Whether those rules are right, O’neill admitted it was another discussion entirely.

Players born on the island can play for either the north or south but asked if that was fair, O’neill said he struggled to see “how it can be of any benefit to Northern Ireland.”

But of his rival’s request for the ‘gentleman’s agreement’, O’neill said: “It’s something that needs to be worked out by the associations.” He continued: “We’re the managers but we’re somewhat transient.

“If something happens in the next couple of years then an agreement would pose some difficulties.

“It’s worth having a conversation about. We mentioned it about five or six weeks ago, so the disappointment for me is to hear that

Michael has gone on record.

“The player has the choice – that’s very important and something that’s been overlooked in this.

“They’re not being coerced. They’re being asked. And if I was a player and two nations were looking for me, I’d be overjoyed.”

In an interview this week, Michael O’neill also claimed the FAI are selective in which players they target up north.

“The FAI only ever approach one type of player: Catholic”, he claimed.

It seems the Northern Ireland boss believes that Paddy Mcnair (inset) was targeted by the FAI in the mistaken belief he was Catholic. But his Republic of Ireland counterpart was not having it yesterday.

O’neill said: “Pure supposition about a player in the case