Eunan O'Kane wins first Republic of Ireland call-up in 37-man squad

Bournemouth midfielder Eunan O'Kane has been handed his first senior call-up to the Republic of Ireland squad ahead of their European Qualifiers against Gibraltar and Georgia.

The 25-year-old is one of three uncapped players - the others being Brentford's Alan Judge and Aberdeen striker Adam Rooney - included in an initial pool of 37.

O'Kane's club-mate Harry Arter is included despite missing the first two games of the season because he is recovering from hip and groin injuries.

Keiren Westwood is one of five goalkeepers in the group and manager Martin O'Neill is confident he will be fit after he bruised a kidney in Sheffield Wednesday's 2-1 defeat to Ipswich on Saturday.

John O'Shea is also included as he seeks to take his tally of international caps to 106 in two games where there is little room for error as far as the Irish are concerned.

While the pair of fixtures are arguably the easiest of their Group D campaign yet, O'Neill's team are off the pace with regards to even securing a play-off place.

June's 1-1 home draw with Scotland left the Irish two points behind their rivals, with Poland and Germany both further ahead again.

Ireland host Germany and visit Poland in their final two matches and realistically need maximum points from the matches they play before them to have any chance of staying in the competition.

O'Neill said: "These are two very important games in our qualifying campaign and we are looking forward to them.

"The players are all now back in action with their respective clubs and will be ready for these games.

"We will be training at the new FAI National Training Centre in preparation for the trip to Faro to take on Gibraltar and the home game against Georgia at Aviva Stadium.

"The facilities are very impressive and we look forward to making this our training base for all future international camps."

Squad:

David Forde (Millwall), Shay Given (Stoke), Keiren Westwood (Sheffield Wednesday), Darren Randolph ( West Ham), Rob Elliot (Newcastle), Richard Keogh (Derby), Marc Wilson (Stoke), Seamus Coleman (Everton), Cyrus Christie (Derby), John O'Shea (Sunderland), Alex Pearce (Derby), Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa), Paul McShane (Reading), James McCarthy (Everton), Jeff Hendrick (Derby), Stephen Ward (Burnley), Greg Cunningham (Preston), Harry Arter (Bournemouth), Glenn Whelan (Stoke), Eunan O'Kane (Bournemouth), Aiden McGeady (Everton), James McClean (West Brom), Alan Judge (Brentford), Robbie Brady (Norwich), Anthony Pilkington (Cardiff), Stephen Quinn (Reading), David Meyler (Hull), Wes Hoolahan (Norwich), Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy), Shane Long (Southampton), Daryl Murphy (Ipswich), Jon Walters (Stoke), Kevin Doyle (Colorado Rapids), Anthony Stokes (Celtic), David McGoldrick (Ipswich), Adam Rooney (Aberdeen), Simon Cox (Reading).

Watch Gibraltar v Republic of Ireland and Republic of Ireland v Georgia live on Sky Sports next month.