Stephen Kenny intends to keep faith in his defensive boys of the old brigade when Ireland take on Scotland in Hampden Park tomorrow week.
Nathan Collins (21) - who capped a stunning display in June's 1-1 Nations League draw with Ukraine in Lodz with a wonder goal - is set to retain his spot in the three man central defensive rearguard.
But Andrew Omobamidele (20) and Dara O'Shea (23) will probably have to bide their time as Shane Duffy and John Egan complete the trio.
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While Egan (29) has played every minute this season for Championship leaders Sheffield United, Duffy (30) has tasted action for a handful of minutes from the bench following his on-loan move to Fulham from Brighton and Hove Albion.
Right wing backs Seamus Coleman (33) and Matt Doherty (30) have also been used very sparingly at Everton and Spurs respectively since the start of the Premier League campaign having both missed part of pre-season through injury.
In contrast, O'Shea and Omobamidele have been ever-presents for West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City respectively with O'Shea now skipper of The Baggies.
"No, we’ve introduced a lot of young players in 18 months," stated Kenny when asked if he sees the Nations League dates with the Scots and Armenia in Dublin three days later as the opportunity to usher in a new era at the back.
"What it has done has increased our options and given competition for places in the European Championships.
"We're not looking to make changes. Whoever is in form, will play.
"Shane, Seamus and Matt all have contributions to make to this team.
"Sometimes at their club they’re one injury away from getting back in and they can get sustained runs in their clubs teams.
"For different reasons, Seamus and Matt, their injuries impacted their pre-season and they weren’t really available at the start of the season.
"This impacted on their ability to compete for a place. Shane went to Fulham on loan move and they’ve persisted with the two centre-backs that got them up and are doing well."
Collins was winning only his sixth senior cap in Lodz but his maturity in his game suggested a player in his late twenties approaching his peak.
His €25m summer from Burnley to Wolves - that will rise to €32.5m if all the add-on clauses are triggered - has seen him slot into the Premier League club's back four with ease.
"Nathan has been very good and is playing to a very high level. You get the feeling he’s only going to get better.
"His attitude is good. He has good values, high level of professionalism and he has some good leadership qualities.
"You feel with Nathan he’s only going to get better in his career.
"Nathan has taken everything in his stride and has been very impressive the way he’s done that."
Wolves take on Manchester City at Molineux in tomorrow's lunchtime game and Kenny smiled when asked as to how his centre half can hope to deal with the global game's current best striker, Erling Haaland.
"It’s a big challenge taking on Manchester City and Haaland. It’s another step in his development.
"He’s played a high number of games for one so young, playing at Stoke and Burnley. He seems to be a firm fixture in Wolves’ team which is terrific.
"For any of our Irish players to be playing regularly in the Premier League, ideally it’s what we want. He’s shown the quality to do that.
"He didn’t play against Haaland before. It’s a new experience. I’m sure he’ll relish the challenge. "
Kenny played down Michael Obafemi's ongoing spat with his club manager at Swansea City, Russell Martin, that has seen him omitted from the match day squad for the club's two most recent Championship games.
This follows Swansea's decision to turn down a transfer deadline day bid by Burnley for the striker.
"It’s not that Michael has been out for a long time. He’s only missed last week," added Kenny who has not set the 22 year old with a target of playing against Hull City tomorrow if he is to feature against the Scots against whom he scored a magnificent goal in JUne's 3-0 Dublin victory .
"I wouldn’t say he has to feature, no. It’s not as black and white as that.
"But I’d prefer him playing, coming in match fit. He did very well when he was in.
"I thought his performances for Swansea at the end of last season and the start of this season were very good.
"We’d have preferred not to have this situation. We’d have preferred coming in in good form, good relations and all that kind of stuff. Life sometimes presents these problems.
I’ve spoken to Michael and like everything else there are two or three sides to every story.
"Certainly Michael wants to play football, he wants to play for Swansea. Obviously he has been omitted from the last couple of squads after the deadline-day bids and so forth.
"It’s not ideal, we want our players playing and coming in in good form."
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