Republic of Ireland under-21 manager Don Givens will be without two of his most experienced players when he sends his side out to face their Georgian counterparts in a make-or-break Euro 2004 qualifier in Tblisi today (kick-off: 12 noon Irish time).
Sunderland winger Thomas Butler was forced to admit defeat in his race to be fit for both tonight’s game and the fixture in Albania next Tuesday, and has returned to his club for treatment.
Earlier in the week, Givens was forced to resign himself to the unavailability of striker Graham Barrett, the other player in the under-21 squad with senior international experience.
The Arsenal forward, who has spent the season on loan at Brighton, was called into Brian Kerr’s senior squad as cover after the withdrawal of Clinton Morrison and the doubts over the availability of Robbie Keane.
Of the injury to Butler, Givens said: “Thomas picked up a calf strain while playing for Sunderland on Saturday and it hasn’t healed as well as we would have hoped.
“It’s a blow. You invariably get one or two injuries, but it doesn’t help when you lose somebody who would have been in your starting XI.”
In Butler’s absence, Givens’s fluid formation will see Shelbourne’s Wes Hoolahan float between midfield, the wing and the attack, where Jonathan Daly will replace Barrett as the only out-and-out striker.
Nottingham Forest’s in-form Andy Reid will continue on the left side of midfield, while his club team-mate John Thompson will man the centre of midfield alongside Celtic’s Liam Miller. Butler’s club colleague, Sean Thornton, will fill in in a narrow right side of midfield role.
Indeed, there are starting berths for all four of the players in the squad who would have been at the World Youth Cup with the Irish under-20s had that tournament not been postponed due to the war in Iraq.
In addition to Thornton and Daly, right back Stephen Brennan keeps his place after making his debut against Scotland last month, while there is a first under-21 cap for central defender Stephen Paisley.
Paisley, who will partner captain Jim Goodwin, will be released by Manchester City at the end of the season and is hoping to impress in an attempt to sort out a new club for next season.
In goal, Arsenal’s Graham Stack keeps his place ahead of West Brom’s Joe Murphy.
Republic of Ireland under-21s, Euro 2004 qualifier v Georgia, March 28th 2003:
Stack (Arsenal – on loan to Beveren), Brennan (Newcastle United), Tierney (Manchester United – on loan to Crewe), Goodwin (Stockport County), Paisley (Manchester City), Thompson (Nottingham Forest), Thornton (Sunderland), Miller (Celtic), Reid (Nottingham Forest), Hoolahan (Shelbourne), Daly (Stockport County).
