A few tidbits for all…

Dia dhuit everyone, apologies for the delay in putting everything up for the last fortnight or so. Most of the first week was spent in a dark corner worrying about what would happen if I failed to get the grades off my A-Levels for Uni, the second was mostly spent getting ready for Uni. Got the grades to get into Sussex. So….yay. Anyways, onto more pressing issues. The game is coming up in Olso tomorrow, there will be a full and proper preview put together and put up tomorrow, but for now I’ll just give you the squad selected by Traps for tomorrow’s friendly. As below…

Goalkeepers: Shay Given (Newcastle United), Dean Kiely (West Bromwich Albion)

Defenders: Alex Bruce (Ipswich Town), Damien Delaney (Queens Park Rangers), Richard Dunne (Manchester City), Steve Finnan (Liverpool), John O’Shea (Manchester United), Kevin Foley (Wolves), Kevin Kilbane (Wigan Athletic), Joey O’Brien (Bolton Wanderers)

Midfielders: Damien Duff (Newcastle United), Stephen Hunt (Reading), Aiden McGeady (Celtic), Liam Miller (Sunderland), Andy Reid (Sunderland), Stephen Reid (Blackburn Rovers), Glenn Whelan (Stoke City)

Forwards: Kevin Doyle (Reading), Robbie Keane (Liverpool), Andy Keogh (Wolves), Shane Long (Reading), Daryl Murphy (Sunderland)

Opinions…Trappatoni must be applauded for enticing Steve Finnan back into international football. The man’s only 32, so he’s got a run until the end of the World Cup campaign, which is plenty enough time to get Joey O’Brien ready for international football on a permanent basis (Sorry, but Stephen Kelly just ain’t gonna make the grade, O’Brien has promise). Tragically, Andy O’Brien has said he won’t be returning to the international fold…that is, Andy O’Brien, quite concievably the worst defender to pull on the Green of Ireland in modern times, rivalled only by Phil Babb and Gary Doherty. Don’t worry Andy, we’ll manage. Just.

Of far greater importance is the abscence of Stephen Ireland, who still feels incapable to returning to international football after his antics prior to the Czech Republic game about a year ago. Ireland has made it known however that will make himself available for selection in future, whenever that is remains unknown. Now, we can’t wait around forever for him, and ideally, he needs to be available for the opening qualifier next month, but a player of Ireland’s quality does deserve time, and I want to see him back in a national shirt, so patience is a virtue here. He’s made mistakes, he’s atoning for them, and he deserves time. He can’t keep Traps waiting forever, and the likelihood is that he won’t wait around forever, but credit to the manager for giving the midfielder time. When you have a player of such ability, by relative comparison with the rest of the midfield, it’s best to keep him in your plans.

Otherwise, it’s very much as you were with the side, Traps has called up a few players on the frignes of the squad for a while, such as Kevin Foley, Alex Bruce and Damien Delaney. Truth is, they’re never going to have much of an impact in the side, and the likelihood is that once the youngsters make the step-up, such as Darren O’Dea, Sean Scannell and Owen Garvan, they will fade into obscurity permanently. It would also be nice to see recalls for the likes of Paul McShane, Stephen McPhail and a call-up for Wes Hoolahan before too long, but for now the squad selected will do, as it is, Trappatoni probably has his first XI in his mind by now, so the rest may well be peripheral.

That’ll do for now though, a preview and analysis of the Norweigans is coming tomorrow, along with predictions for the match, but all in all, it’s not a bad side selected by Trapattoni, with only a few changes necessary for the future. It’ll do for now.

Preview up tomorrow, until then, sliante chugat everyone.