Michael O'Neill refused to be drawn on the Northern Ireland goalkeeping situation as Bailey Peacock-Farrell returned to the squad for the Nations League games against Belarus and Luxembourg.
The Birmingham City 'keeper missed last month's fixtures against Belarus and Bulgaria with Pierce Charles impressing as he took over between the sticks.
The teenager earned more plaudits as he played in Sheffield Wednesday's Carabao Cup tie with Brentford. O'Neill though remained tight-lipped when asked who would get the nod for the final group games next week.
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“Look, there’s competition for places and Bailey has played a lot of international football," he said. "You have to look at where all the goalkeepers are in relation to club form as well, and confidence.
"Bailey has had a difficult start to his Birmingham career, he then had an injury. His focus is obviously to get himself playing, and to the level he knows he’s capable of.
"Competition is good, Pierce is only 19. Conor [Hazard] is playing at Plymouth, Christy Pym at Mansfield, Luke Southwood at Bolton. So we’ve got goalkeepers playing on a more regular basis than we’ve had in recent years.
"You can only include three goalkeepers, so in this situation Christy misses out. It’s a position in the past we haven’t had enough competition, so to have it is good."
Meanwhile O'Neill welcomed the news that the game against Belarus would go ahead at Windsor Park as planned. Doubts were raised about the game being played in Belfast due to uncertainty over whether Belarus players and staff would be granted visas by the UK government but O'Neill is delighted it was resolved.
"We've only had the chance to play at home twice in 2024 so it's always nice for the players to get that opportunity," he said. "Everyone enjoyed the game against Bulgaria...the performance, the crowd, the atmosphere, so it would have been a bit disappointing to have had to go and play in an empty stadium in a neutral venue.
"It's a big positive for us to get the opportunity and we have to try and get another positive result. We don't expect to win every game 5-0, that would be unrealistic.
"But that intensity the team played with, they showed it against Luxembourg as well but it was longer against Bulgaria, and that has to be part of this team going forward particularly when we play here in Belfast."
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