Martin O’Neill gives a postive update on the fitness of James McCarthy

Fingers crossed

Martin O’Neill confirmed that James McCarthy is showing signs of improvement and is still in contention for a place in Friday’s game. The midfielder had to play out all 90 minutes of Everton’s draw in Sunderland with a hamstring strain because the Toffees had used up all of their subs and he is still a big doubt for Celtic Park. However, the Republic of Ireland boss has made no decision yet on his team, giving McCarthy time, and he also insisted at this morning's press briefing in Malahide that Everton won’t come into his thinking when he’s selecting his panel. “I think it’s to do with the fact that, if he’s fit to play and wants to play, then that’s fine,” O’Neil explained.  “James is feeling better today.  He didn’t do any work today but he’s going for a scan this afternoon, just for kind of an update, but he is feeling better so we’ll see what tomorrow night brings.  I will wait until tomorrow.  He has improved.” With over 48 hours to go to kick-off, here's hoping he keeps improving on an upward trend.