He hasn’t got clearance but we are watching Ronan Hale as if he is our player, says Michael O’Neill

The Northern Ireland boss also declared that, despite Hale’s international clearance from FIFA taking some time, there is no hold up from the IFA or FAI side and he is convinced the Ross County striker won’t change his mind about the switch.

Indeed, O’Neill insists that he now sees Hale, who previously featured for the Republic of Ireland Under-19 and Under-21 sides, as one of his players.

O’Neill would have loved to have included Hale (26) in his squad for this month’s Nations League games against Belarus in Hungary and Bulgaria in Belfast but the hope is the former Cliftonville hero will have received his clearance for the November internationals.

With goals from his strikers thin on the ground, O’Neill could do with Hale, who has been in superb form for Ross County this season following his summer move from Solitude.

“There has been a lot of communication with the player, but the process is the process,” explained O’Neill.

“It’s an administrative thing, it’s not something we can ask if they can do tomorrow for us.

“In our experience, it takes time, not just with our Association but with other Associations as well. It’s disappointing that it hasn’t come through yet but, if I am honest, I didn’t expect it to be through in this period of time.”

Asked if Hale had pledged his commitment to Northern Ireland, O’Neill stated: “Yes. He wouldn’t have started the process without doing that. If I take you back to the conversations I had with Ronan, I spoke for a long time with him after he moved to Ross County, explaining to him what the process was.

“I told him to go away and speak to his family and his brother (Cliftonville captain Rory) who I know is a positive influence on him and have a think about it. It wasn’t like he had to do it today or tomorrow but he texted me back 20 minutes later telling me he wanted to do it.

“He was very adamant that he wanted to do it and from there the process started.

“The reality is until the process is complete, he has the right to change his mind., but the player hasn’t indicated to me that he doesn’t want to play. I have no concerns about that.

“For me, it is just a case of the wheels of FIFA moving a bit quicker than they unfortunately do at this moment in time.”

Quizzed on whether, even at this stage, the Republic could try to persuade Hale to stay with them, O’Neill said: “I would assume that conversation would have taken place when he notified the FAI that he was going to transfer because he had to do that and the FAI have been complicit in the transfer.

“If I was a player looking at the situation going ‘well who plays for the Republic of Ireland? Evan Ferguson’ I would kind of think what are my opportunities going to be in that situation?

“The first thing in the process that the player has to do is notify his existing Association that he wants to leave so I would assume conversations from their end took place to that point if the manager wanted to speak to him or someone else within the Association but we are watching him at this moment in time as if he is our player.

“Jimmy Nicholl (assistant manager) was at his game against Hearts at the weekend when he scored a great goal. I saw him earlier in the season and our scout watched him against Rangers. Hopefully we will get the administration process through as quickly as possible. Neither Association (IFA or FAI) are holding this up.”

Meanwhile, Stevenage’s Jamie Reid is back in O’Neill’s squad for the games versus Belarus and Bulgaria. He is the only striker to have scored for Northern Ireland this year — on his debut in Romania — with the other six 2024 goals coming from defenders via set pieces or Liverpool’s Conor Bradley.

Dion Charles, Josh Magennis and Callum Marshall are also included in attack but Shayne Lavery is injured.

O’Neill appreciates his forwards need to start finding the net.

“If we look at successful periods in Northern Ireland football, it is generally when attacking players have been scoring,” he said.

“It is very difficult for your team to win games over a long period of time if you don’t have consistent goal scorers in your forward line.

“We’ve probably not had that enough from the lads. They have to step up. A lot are scoring goals at League One level but it is a step up when you play at international level and they have to bridge that gap.

“We need goals in our team, there is no doubt about that. If we don’t get them from attacking players, we have to find them in other ways whether that is from set pieces or midfield players like Conor (Bradley) who has scored in recent games.

“It would be nice for someone to step up and be a consistent goal scorer at international level.”