Ferguson and Parrott fitness boost for Republic of Ireland

Fifa World Cup qualifier: Portugal v Republic of Ireland

Venue: Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon Date: Saturday, 11 October Kick-off: 19:45 BST

Republic of Ireland assistant head coach John O’Shea says strikers Evan Ferguson and Troy Parrott are both in contention to feature in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Portugal.

Ferguson was a doubt heading into camp with an ankle injury that meant he was an unused substitute in Roma’s Serie A win over Fiorentina last weekend.

Parrott returned to action for the first time since August after recovering from a knee injury when he came off the bench in AZ Alkmaar’s Eredivisie win over Telstar.

“Evan took part in pretty much all the training today, so really good,” O’Shea said.

On Parrott, O’Shea added: “There’s every chance, but you also have to respect the kind of injuries he’s had. We look after the player first and foremost and hopefully then we can make that decision closer to kick-off.

“But what we’re seeing is very positive. Everything, the strength and the power and the speed that he has is good to see.”

Parrott, 23, was in excellent form before his injury, scoring 10 goals in seven games in the Eredivisie and Uefa Conference League qualifying.

“Troy has been doing everything right on and off the pitch for the last few years to be the best professional he can,” added O’Shea.

“That’s led to him possibly getting back that bit quicker from an injury that could have kept him out for longer too.

“It’s brilliant to see and obviously he was getting the rewards before the injury too. The type of character he is in the group as well. Anyone that has that kind of attacking talent is going to be very important for us.”

The Republic of Ireland’s qualification hopes suffered a major blow with a shock defeat by Armenia in Yerevan last month.