Former Ireland goalkeeper Packie Bonner believes Darren Randolph's lack of game time recently for West Ham is not a major concern heading into the 2018 World Cup qualifier against Austria.
The Boys in Green resume their qualifying campaign next month and since the closing stages of the Euro 2016 qualifiers, Bray native Randolph has been Ireland No 1.
However, he has lost his place in the West Ham first team to Spanish goalkeeper Adrian at West Ham in recent weeks.
Bonner was speaking to Newstalk's Team 33 as part of the "Don’t Ignore The Red’ campaign" by Roche which seeks to raise awareness about bladder cancer in partnership with the Marie Keating Foundation.
On the issue of Randolph, Bonner feels his demotion at club level does not need to have a major bearing on his status at international level.
"I don't think it's as important. Of course, confidence comes into it and we all like to confident," he said.
"And I don't think it's down to sharpness. Most people now, like Darren, will be sharp. They will come away together and train for two weeks. His sharpness will be fine. That ain't the problem. So I would have no qualms about Darren Randolph playing in these games - different maybe when he was younger and didn't have the experience to rely on. But he has enough experience now to get over that so that's not a problem."
Bonner also gave his take on how he believes Randolph has improved.
"I think he gets into the line of the ball much better than he did when he was younger," he said.
"I watched him in the European Championships and he was almost in position even before thinking about it. That was really good because that doesn't come naturally at times.
"He's also a good kicker of the ball and the way Martin [O'Neill] wants to play the game, he plays it much more direct than a lot of teams. So he puts the ball into areas - I think he could do it better. There's times when I look at it and it's kicked too high or into areas and I think he can do it better and that's something maybe that he will develop."
The full interview with Packie Bonner will be broadcast on Team 33 on Tuesday night and will be available via podcast.
Packie Bonner was speaking as part of the Don't Ignore The Red Campaign which raises awareness about bladder cancer.
Annually, about 450 people in Ireland are diagnosed with bladder cancer with men four times more likely to get it. A National Cancer Registry Ireland report has identified high risk areas including the East Coast, parts of Donegal and areas in Kerry and Cork.
Symptoms include blood in urine, painful urination and changes in the frequency of urination.
Early diagnosis may improve one's prognosis and more information about bladder cancer can be found on the Marie Keating Foundation's section on the topic.
Speaking about the campaign, Bonner says: "Bladder cancer was not something I knew much about before, so to see the high rates of bladder cancer in my own county of Donegal was a big shock for me. I want to stress how important symptom awareness is, and how it could save so many lives by simply being vigilant about our own health."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
