Mick McCarthy will announce his squad today for the Republic's coming series of the World Cup qualifying games against Cyprus and Andorra.
Attention will centre upon whether McCarthy decides to name Niall Quinn in his squad in the dwindling hope that he can regain full fitness prior to the first tie against the Cypriots in Nicosia on March 24th (kickoff 6.0 Irish time).
As reported below, the Sunderland striker's impressive season has been halted by a recurring back strain, and McCarthy had begun to reconcile himself to the absence of the experienced target man prior to the recently postponed friendly against Denmark. Feyenoord striker David Connolly was named up front with Robbie Keane in the team to face Denmark before that match was called off due to freezing conditions. McCarthy pointed out that although neither Connolly nor Keane are preferred target-men, they have combined effectively as a unit in the past, and he would not be overly concerned with Quinn's absence, undoubted loss though it would be.
The Irish squad was blunted by a number of injuries in the build-up to that February 28th friendly, but most of those concerned have returned to first-team football since. Roy Keane resumed his place at the heart of Manchester United's midfield for the last week's draw against Panathinaikos.
His international partner, Mark Kinsella, came on as a late substitute during Charlton's scoreless draw with Middlesbrough two weekends ago. Mattie Holland, also injury-stricken despite being named in McCarthy's last team, returned to play for Ipswich last weekend.
The squad is expected to have a familiar ring about it, with Wimbledon's Kenny Cunningham again on the verge of reclaiming a defensive role and Newcastle's Shay Given seeking to establish himself as Ireland's first-choice goalkeeper again.
The squad flies out to Nicosia this day week to prepare for the clash on the 24th, before moving on to Barcelona for their tie against Andorra on the 28th.
The under-21 squad for the European championship game against Cyprus in Larnaca will also be announced today. There is no under-age game against Andorra.
Meanwhile, the FAI yesterday moved to maintain its general
postponement of domestic football after consulting officials in the Department of Agriculture.
It was decided to maintain the policy that has led to a general cancellation of fixtures over the past two weekends because of the worsening foot-and-mouth crisis in Britain.
Association representatives will hold further discussions with the Department this Thursday in the hope of implementing a partial resumption of matches for the weekend of March 24th-25th.
A number of stringent restrictions will be placed on all clubs if playing resumes. No games are to be played on pitches which have been used for grazing livestock. No club will be given permission to travel to Britain for games over the Easter weekend. Such trips have become increasingly popular in recent years.
Conversely, no British clubs are to be invited to this country for friendly fixtures. It is advised that all clubs place disinfectant mats at the entrances to their clubs and playing fields.
