Michael O'Neill is expected to declare his interest in becoming the next Northern Ireland manager after Shamrock Rovers' clash with Tottenham.

O'Neill: Tipped for Northern Ireland job

O'Neill's three-year spell at Tallaght Stadium will come to an end on Thursday night after the club's Europa League Group A clash against Harry Redknapp's men in Dublin.

The 42-year-old, who was born in County Armagh, is expected to be interviewed for the Northern Ireland head coach's position, which is vacant following the resignation of Nigel Worthington in October.

O'Neill, who was capped 33 times by his country, has flirted with the idea of becoming Northern Ireland manager before, last month describing it as a "very attractive" post, but he is expected to outline his candidacy and hopes of landing the post tonight.

The former Newcastle midfielder would give nothing away about his plans for the future on Wednesday, saying: "I'm looking forward to the game.

"That's all I'm focusing on. As for all the other questions about my own future, there is time to deal with that after the game tomorrow."

O'Neill's assistant, Jim Magilton, and Dave Jones have also been mentioned as possible candidates for the job, but the Shamrock manager is the current bookmakers' favourite thanks to his recent success in Tallaght.

O'Neill has led Rovers to back-to-back Irish titles since moving from Brechin City and also received huge praise for negotiating his way past Partizan Belgrade in the Europa League play-offs to help Rovers become the first League of Ireland side to make the group stages of a European competition.

Since qualifying, the Hoops have failed to register a single point, suffering defeats to Spurs, Rubin Kazan and PAOK Salonika.

Despite their status as overwhelming underdogs, captain Dan Murphy hopes O'Neill and Shamrock can part ways with a positive result tonight.

"The manager has brought pretty much every single player to the club so it would be nice to finish with a win for him," Murphy said.

"If we play our A game we could nick something at Tallaght, but saying that, I think we know we are playing a Champions League club in Spurs.

"They are being talked about as potential champions of England.

"That's the standard we are up against. It will be tough."