Two teams, three games, six days - O'Neill's unique predicament
The 56-year-old has seven games left to prevent Blackburn, who sit 19th in the Championship table and four points above the relegation zone, from dropping into League One for the first time since 2018. That starts with a game against Birmingham at St Andrews on Friday, which comes roughly two days and 17 hours after the final whistle in Cardiff. After that, attentions will turn quickly turn to a vital six-pointer 72 hours later at home against West Brom on Monday.
That game is arguably the most vital and most intriguing of the three given O'Neill will come up against NI forward Isaac Price, who is also trying to help his side beat the drop alongside a host of other internationals at various Championship clubs. So, the big question is, how does O'Neill navigate this set of overlapping country and club games for the first and perhaps only time in his unique predicament? Quartet to miss Northern Ireland friendly in Wales What next for Northern Ireland as World Cup wait continues?
Blackburn are currently four points above the drop zone along with Price's West Brom while Devlin's Portsmouth are a point clear with Brown, Donley, McDonnell and Spencer's Oxford in the relegation zone O'Neill has always spoken of wanting his players to play at the highest level, but as mentioned, a significant number of players will be going up against his Rovers to avoid the drop and it's tight at the bottom. They include Price at West Brom, who are also four points above the relegation zone, Ciaron Brown, Jamie McDonnell, Jamie Donley and Brodie Spencer at Oxford United, who are one point from safety and Terry Devlin at Portsmouth, who are one point above the drop, while he manages Tom Atcheson at Rovers. Is it a cause for concern for Northern Ireland that the international boss could potentially relegate some of his regulars in the international squad?
When asked in February he said he isn't "having that blood on my hands" and the fate of those clubs lay with their respective managers. "At the end of the day, my job is to do the best I can for Blackburn Rovers," he said. "The lads who manage those respective clubs, their job is to do the best for their clubs as well.
I don't think that's an issue at all. " Cynics may question whether O'Neill, who will have reduced preparation time with Rovers for two big games by virtue of preparing NI to face Wales, will deliberately disadvantage Championship rivals while in charge of NI in terms of how he manages the aforementioned players' loads against Wales with a busy spell of domestic action to follow. Coincidentally, three of the four players released from the NI squad in Norwich's Ruairi McConville (knee), Preston's Ali McCann (knock) and Hull City's Paddy McNair (thigh) will face three of O'Neill relegation rivals in Portsmouth, Leicester and Oxford on Friday.