Darron Gibson was sentenced to 200 hours of community service on Tuesday.

The Everton midfielder copped the sanction after pleading guilty to driving his £125,000 sports car into three cyclists whilst drunk, before fleeing the scene and the colliding with a petrol pump.

Gibson was ordered to serve community service and handed a 20-month driving ban, avoiding a jail term, and the verdict was welcomed by Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill who reacted brightly when a suggestion was made that the player could spend the time with the national squad.

"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. That could be the biggest punishment of all," joked O'Neill.

Before adding: "I just don't want to be going to Wormwood Scrubs and picking him up saying, 'Can he just have a day out here because we have a game?'

"Wormwood Scrubs, would be quite handy to Heathrow Airport. Unless they stick him into Strangeways or something. You could always get a flight from Manchester, I suppose…"

O'Neill then said he would not be calling injury-prone former Manchester United midfielder Gibson to speak about his current situation.

"I'm sure he (Gibson) is not that bothered whether I have a word with him or not," addedd O'Neill.

"I'm sure he has more issues on his mind than the international manager phoning him to find out how many (community) hours he's doing."