The Republic of Ireland starting team to face Wales tomorrow in Cardiff (3pm) has been announced by caretaker manager Don Givens.
Ireland will conclude their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign looking to consolidate third place in the group.
Shay Given has recovered from his recent groin injury to take up his position in goal. Steve Finnan and Kevin Kilbane have been selected as the full-backs, with John O'Shea partnering Paul McShane in central-defence.
The midfield quartet will be Liam Miller, Lee Carsley, Andy Reid and Aiden McGeady while Kevin Doyle will play alongside captain Robbie Keane in attack.
Givens said today he hoped that Aiden McGeady would carry his recent form at club level into tomorrow's game.
"I watched Aiden play for Celtic against Benfica and he destroyed them from his attacking position. He's a lad with great technical ability and he's starting to apply it. Hopefully that will give him the confidence to do the same to the Welsh defenders tomorrow."
The Under-21 manager also insisted that Stephen Hunt was unlucky to miss out on a starting position but could be brought in to affect the play.
"I think that we'll be more solid with Lee Miller in one of the wide positions. I felt we could be exposed slightly if we used both Aiden and Stephen as the two wingers. That was my thinking behind that. But the option is there for Hunty to come in, if needed."
He added: "There is a lot to play for in tomorrow's game. The players are going into the game in a positive frame of mind."
Captain Robbie Keane, who has overcome a foot injury to play, said: "This game gives the players the opportunity to get some pride back in the country. We need to stand up and be counted.
"I can feel the injury a tiny bit but it won't stop me from playing. I missed the training session yesterday but I feel okay now."
The team is: Given (Newcastle United), Finnan (Liverpool), O'Shea (Manchester United), McShane (Sunderland), Kilbane (Wigan), Miller (Sunderland), Carsley (Everton), A. Reid (Charlton Athletic), McGeady (Celtic), Keane (Spurs), K. Doyle (Reading).
I hope Lee Miller does the business.
In Trap we trust
Originally Posted by reder
Sigh! Apparently for Keane, he must now only score in important matches and anything else is irrelevant. So who is going to score in the other games
If Robbie never scored another goal for the rest of his life, that goal against Germany and the peno against Spain will remain with me forever. Our greatest scorer ever but apparent he must now only score against top teams, otherwise he's rubbish. Young people of Ireland, I love you
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
What a shame our illustrious Captain didn't raise this rallying cry EARLY in the competition!
Tact is for people who are not witty enough to be sarcastic
The vast majority of Irish fans would be content if he scored at all and not just exclusively against 'top teams'. You can look back with all the dewy eyed mysticism you want at the world cup in 2002 but it doesn't change the fact when Ireland needed him most and the heat was on in the last five years, he dissapointed.Sigh! Apparently for Keane, he must now only score in important matches and anything else is irrelevant. So who is going to score in the other games
If Robbie never scored another goal for the rest of his life, that goal against Germany and the peno against Spain will remain with me forever. Our greatest scorer ever but apparent he must now only score against top teams, otherwise he's rubbish. Young people of Ireland, I love you
I think I should the parachute, because I'm great.
In fact, I think I should get both parachutes, in case one doesn't work.
Not trying to defned him but just to put it in context you are saying in the last fiver years we needed him the most, why did we need him the most because we had an average team and I use the word team there as I dont think we had average players. So as a result the team was not performing it is very hard if not impossible for a player to play even better when playing upfront for an average team.
The reason he has not produced for Ireland is that he is part of the problem that the team have not been performing so therefore it makes it hard for him to perform. A vicious cirble that can only be sorted by a top class manager and players willing to learn and do whatever is necessary for the jersey.
In Trap we trust
we need a target man !!! he loves playign off them
Was he crazy!! Yeah , in a very special way , an Irishman.
I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;
I woke, and found that life was Duty.
Surely any left back, as a left back, would cover for a left midfielder's lack of defensive acumen? Understand if he was playing a 4-3-2-1 with Mcgeady on the left of the 2 and you said Kilbane was on the left of the 3 to cover for McGeady's lack of defensive acumen.
Anyway, Mcgeady does do a lot of chasing back, the only problem is that a lot of the chasing back is because he left the ball behind him going forward !
---
ditto that.
I would have liked to see Alan Lee beside Keane, as he does like a target man, but given the squad picked, i'm happy
on paper that team looks a lot stronger than the Welsh 11. Watch us go and get thrashed now.....
"If God had meant football to be played in the air, he'd have put grass in the sky." Brian Clough.
You'll NEVER beat the Irish.......you'll just draw with us instead!!!
Well Robbies just equalised 1-1.
Nothing game though, can't read anything in to it.
The dude abides....
You talking about our top scorer EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If people would support the team instead of giving out maybe we would play better...........Look at the Scots, our team is better man by man
One team in Louth, DFC
Keano
One team in Louth, DFC
Yes!!!!!! 2:1
Hunt makes immediate impact and puts Doyle in to score.
How does that work?
tempting fate i know but would this be our best competitive away win for 20 years?????
I would say Georgia away in 2003 was better
JERRY: But are you still master of your domain?
GEORGE: I am king of the county. You?
JERRY: Lord of the manor.
nice one McShane, it was outside the box but how you think you can grapple with someone like that is beyond me. Can we hold on to a ******* lead???
Given 8
Finnan 6
Kilbane 5
McShane 5
O'Shea 5
Carsley 6
A Reid 7
Miller 4
McGeady 7.5
Keane 7.5
Doyle 8
Subs
Hunt 8
"If God had meant football to be played in the air, he'd have put grass in the sky." Brian Clough.
You'll NEVER beat the Irish.......you'll just draw with us instead!!!
Penalty decision was thoroughly dubious but we deserved at least a point from the game. For the first 15 minutes of the second half it was one way traffic, and your goal to make it 2-1 was against the run of play.
Given was absolutely brilliant and stopped us from scoring more, but we were crap defensively too (cough, Gabbidon) so it could have been 6-6 at the end.
One thing you can say is that it was a much better game than the one in Dublin. Both sides seemed to actually want to win instead of not losing.
"Life is like a hair on a toilet seat. Sooner or later you are bound to get pi$$ed off."
"In this league, a draw is sometimes as good as a win" - Steve Morison
Wales looked much better today than the Croke Park game. With Bellamy in the side (i.e. if fit) I think we'd have been struggling defensively - more so than we did today.
"If God had meant football to be played in the air, he'd have put grass in the sky." Brian Clough.
You'll NEVER beat the Irish.......you'll just draw with us instead!!!
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