Bosses suspect workers may go missing for several hours from the start of the tie as the Republic battle to hold on to the vital 2-0 lead they secured from the first leg of the fixture in Dublin last Saturday.

Schools, too, were poised to confront a demand from pupils to watch the game rather than stick to their studies.

All the signs tonight were, though, that both the employers and the teachers would devise compromise tactics to overcome the sporting threat to normal activities.

The Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation said: ‘‘As long as both sides are prepared to be reasonable, there are unlikely to be too many difficulties.’’

A spokesman pointed out that other big midweek sporting occasions had been covered on Irish TV before without any huge loss of manpower.

He added: ‘‘We understand, of course, that people will want to watch this big game - and that applies as much to company executives as anyone else.’’

Ireland’s Small Firms’ Association director Pat Delaney said that while the importance of the match was appreciated, it was equally important that companies kept their best people in the workplace.

He reported a flood of calls from worried employers, with some asking staff to clock in and leave early. And he called on workers to resist the temptation to declare themselves sick for the day.

Some schools were thought likely to bow to the inevitable, and either give pupils a half day to see the game in their homes, or organise special viewings in larger classrooms.

An Irish Department of Education official said the question would be left to the discretion of the authorities at individual schools.