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Martin O’Neill says he won’t be afraid to unleash controversial ‘granny rule’ rookies in the middle of the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

The Ireland boss has revealed that he’s been given a positive reaction by players who could qualify for the country under the so-called ‘granny’ rule, and claims if things are ­organised in time, he would be willing to throw them into action if he deems them good enough.

The four-game end of season schedule has come too early for any potential new players to be involved, but O’Neill is excited by the possibility that some will pull on the green shirt in the next 12 months.

“So far, the people have been really positive, some decent people,” he said.

“It takes a bit of time and a bit of work which we are doing in the background at this minute.

“All of it has been really positive. People I think could help us along the way have not knocked it back.

“I have been encouraged and at this stage they want to look for us to develop it to see where it leads. Of course, by the time we develop it they might have improved that much that some of the ‘normal’ countries would want them to play.

“They have not knocked that.

“Am I happy to bring in during Euro campaign? Absolutely. If we can look at this here and they genuinely want to play and have that ­enthusiasm to play, of course.

“And if they’re good enough to play in the side – and some of the people we are looking at would certainly be good enough to play in our squad – I would have no problems bringing them in.

“But it is a process that you have to go through. Sometimes it can be relatively straightforward and other times more complicated.”

There have been a host of names mentioned as possible call-ups, both before and since O’Neill’s appointment, with Tottenham’s Harry Kane the latest.

He joins Kyle Naughton, Nathan Redmond, Curtis Davies and Patrick Bamford on the

‘watch’ list.

Hull defender Davies has made clear his desire to play for England, while Kane spoke only last month of how eager he was to add to his full house of underage caps for England.

But O’Neill insists there are interested parties, and he’s spoken to both players and agents already.

“I would make the initial approach,” he revealed. “I have heard from one or two of the players’ agents for instance that they have done some homework and they’d know that we are aware.

“If they show that enthusiasm to want to continue to do it, that’s great for me.

“If they knocked it at a pass, let’s say I phoned up an agent and he said he has no interest, well, that has not been the case so far.

“The only way you’re really going to find out though is by meeting the player. Of course you would be sceptical [about agents putting names forward] but I’d put that to the side if I thought the player wanted to.

“It’s happened already and there are one or two players that I’ve met who fall into our category and who I think are of decent enough quality for us.”

O’Neill admitted: “The USA trip is too early, but during the course of the qualification I wouldn’t have a problem bringing someone in if I thought they were good enough and wanted to play for us.”