News round-up: In the wake of Wednesday night's successful jaunt against Norway, the FAI yesterday confirmed that Australia will come to Dublin in August to assist Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr with any fine tuning that might have to be carried out ahead of what now look certain to be key European qualifiers in the autumn against Russia and Switzerland.

The announcement will come as a welcome boost to Kerr who had earlier this week made clear his belief in the importance of friendly internationals and then backed up his comments by availing of the opportunity against the Norwegians to weigh up the potential benefits of re-organising the Irish attack.

Damien Duff's performance behind the front two will have delighted but scarcely surprised Kerr. To know that the Blackburn winger can easily adapt to the different role handed to him on Wednesday will have been as significant as the apparent inability of David Connolly to seize his chance up front as well as Kevin Kilbane's disappointing performance out on the wing where Duff would probably look happiest of all.

The fact is that Duff is clearly talented enough to play in almost any attacking role for the team - he has already played on both flanks as well as a striker for the Republic - but Kerr's decision on where to deploy him in June for the qualifiers against Albania and Georgia is likely to be more greatly influenced by the rather timid display of Connolly who, with Clinton Morrison injured, presented the most plausible alternative to the 24-year-old as a striking partner for Robbie Keane.

The Wimbledon striker continues to score regularly in the English first division and is reportedly a summer transfer target for Mick McCarthy, a move that would make sense given his record at that level and the expected departure of Kevin Phillips, probably to Portsmouth. However, on most of the occasions when Connolly has been promoted to the Republic's starting line-up he has looked just a little short of the necessary quality.

Gary Doherty is Kerr's only other option in the position and though the big Tottenham player's occasional contributions in attack have proved valuable in the past he has never looked the part when started in international games, a fact that is certainly unlikely to change as long as he resides in positional limbo at White Hart Lane.

If Ireland's pool of attacking talent were a little deeper then Duff would presumably be used out on the left flank where he has established himself, at club level, as one of the most gifted players in the Premiership. He is not after all, notwithstanding his close-range strike in the first half against Norway, a particularly natural goalscorer. However, since starting Ireland's World Cup qualifier in Estonia almost two years ago in attack that is where he has earned the bulk of his 16 most recent caps and a return of four goals, two in his last four games, is not so bad as long as there is an in-form Robbie Keane on hand.

It looks good enough, one suspects in any case, to prompt his return to the front line for the Albania game and save the unfailingly honest but invariably frustrating Kilbane from a spell on the bench.

What will be as interesting in five weeks, meanwhile, will be the identity of Ireland's back four with Kerr having tough choices to make at left back and centre half.

The new manager will have Ian Harte, John O'Shea and Steve Finnan to choose from for the number three shirt and the Manchester United defender will go into the mix for one of the two centre-half slots if he is displaced from the position he has made his own at Old Trafford.

The Manchester Evening News reported yesterday that the defender, who turned 22 on Wednesday, is about to be offered a new contract by Alex Ferguson just 14 months after signing a four-year deal worth £10,000 a week. The new deal, it is said, will involve his weekly wage rising to three and a half times that figure.

Such a deal would be no more than recognition on the part of his employers of the dramatic progress he has made over the past 12 months and given his club form it is hard to see him being left out by Kerr.

Leaving him at left back is the most obvious solution but that will mean leaving another of the Premiership's best defenders, either Finnan or Steve Carr out.

Moving him would, barring an injury or two, oblige the Ireland manager to dislodge players less celebrated at club level but who have generally repaid the loyalty shown to them within the Ireland set-up.

Andy O'Brien, who would almost certainly have started for Ireland on Wednesday but for his second broken nose of the season, will surely feel aggrieved that after a solid season at Newcastle he has little or no chance of making the starting line-up.

But there seems likely to be more than just the one-time under-21 England international with their noses out of joint when Kerr names the team that will have to beat Albania if all of Ireland's recent good fortune in terms of third-party results is not to end up counting for nothing.