Martin O ’ Neill says this summer ’ s friendly match with England is simply a means to an end for Republic of Ireland . Roy Hodgson takes the Three Lions to Dublin on June 7 , six days before the Irish face Scotland in their decisive Euro 2016 qualifier . O ’ Neill , though , has played down the significance of England ’ s visit and prefers to focus his attention on the match with the Scots . Martin O'Neill says that Ireland 's game against Scotland is much more important than the England clash . ‘ England is ( a means to an end ) for me , ’ he said . ‘ I agree it ’ s a big match , but it ’ s not for me . The Scotland game is the be all and end all . ‘ I don ’ t think we should overlook the fact that , for me , it ’ s a build up to the Scotland game . It will be intense and that might be a good thing . ‘ But at the end of the day , if you want us to win a load of friendly games I ’ ll play the 700th rated team in Europe every single week and build it up. ’ Roy Hodgson 's side travel to Ireland on June 7 for a friendly match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin . O ’ Neill and his team can not afford anything other than victory against Scotland at the Aviva Stadium . They salvaged a 1-1 draw at home to Poland on Sunday night thanks to Shane Long ’ s injury-time strike . Failure to win , however , has left them three points adrift of the table-topping Poles with Germany and Scotland also two points better off . Gordon Strachan and his Scotland side are just above Ireland and the clash has been labelled as 'must win ' The team have been praised for refusing to accept defeat against Poland , but also criticised for again having to rely on a last-minute rescue act . O ’ Neill said : ‘ I ’ d rather get the first goal in the game and take it . We ’ ve been chasing some of the matches . ‘ But overall I think the draw sets it up for Scotland . It ’ s probably a must-win game for us . ‘ We ’ re still in the competition . It would have been a real blow to lose on Sunday . ‘ But I thought we had spirit in abundance . We really can not wait now for June. ’ Shane Long ( 9 ) fired home a crucial equaliser against leaders Poland to keep Ireland in the hunt .
Martin O'Neill says the clash with Scotland is bigger than England . Ireland and Scotland are vying for qualification for Euro 2016 in France . The Irish manager has been impressed by Scotland's performance against Wales on Saturday, but he admits it will be a tough game to win if they lose at Murrayfield.