The Republic of Ireland have drawn a challenging qualification group for the Euro 2016 championships, and will face Poland and Germany as part of their qualification campaign.
Ireland were drawn in Group D along with Germany, Poland and Georgia, as well as UEFA's newest member Gibraltar, who were drawn to Group C with Spain but were switched to D for political reasons.
Ireland manager Martin O’Neill said Ireland had “a difficult group, but it’s exciting, nevertheless.”
"It's tough, I'm there's other groups we might have preferred to be in but we'll get on with it.
"Germany you would say are the outstanding side in the group but there's plenty to fight for. It looks like a group, Germany apart, where teams might be able to take points off each other.”
"It is exciting. There's some groups you might call mundane but we're definitely in an exciting group. It's a terrific, terrific draw."
England and Northern Ireland were both handed kind draws with England in particular expected to qualify for the championships.
Wales meanwhile have a shot at a play-off place or better in Group B, where they will face Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belgium, Israel, Cyprus and Andorra.
The groups in full are:
Group A: Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Iceland, Latvia, Turkey, Czech Republic
Group B: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Andorra, Cyprus, Wales, Israel, Belgium
Group C: Spain, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Belarus, Slovakia, Ukraine
Group D: Germany, Gibraltar, Georgia, Scotland, Poland, Republic of Ireland
Group E: England, San Marino, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Switzerland
Group F: Greece, Faroe Islands, Northern Ireland, Finland, Romania, Hungary
Group G: Russia, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, Austria, Sweden
Group H: Italy, Malta, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Norway, Croatia
Group I: Portugal, Albania, Armenia, Serbia, Denmark, *France
* Hosts France will join Group I, where they will play friendlies against the other teams in the group.
Subject: Tough Euro 2016 qualification group for Ireland 
