It wasn't, to say the least, quite the start to preparations for next Wednesday's World Cup qualifying game against France Brian Kerr would have wished for but the Republic of Ireland manager, faced with concerns over the fitness of five players - Damien Duff, Kenny Cunningham, Andy O'Brien, Steve Finnan and Matt Holland - insisted yesterday he is hopeful they will all be available for selection for the crucial Group Four game.

By the time the squad assembled for training in Malahide yesterday afternoon, however, Duff had still not arrived from London - he was due in Dublin later in the evening - having picked up a knee injury in training with Chelsea on Thursday. He has been ordered to rest for "a few days" and so is unlikely to train with the Irish squad over the weekend, at least.

Cunningham missed yesterday's session with a neck injury, while his central defensive partner O'Brien is suffering from a virus that has hit several team-mates in the Portsmouth squad. To add to Kerr's woes, Finnan remained behind in Liverpool yesterday with a groin problem, while Holland has a rib injury.

"I'm glad we found out today rather than in a few days," said Kerr, "we can deal with these problems more efficiently the earlier we know. Damien tweaked his knee in training yesterday kicking a ball, he was a bit sore and has had some treatment at Chelsea but they feel that he is going to be okay. I don't know whether he will train in the next couple of days. We'll see how it goes.

"Andy has picked up a virus that some of the other players at Portsmouth have had and he is not feeling great. He hasn't trained much this week but we are hoping that he might be able to do a bit tomorrow. Steve Finnan has had a recurrence of the soreness in his groin so he stayed back for treatment at Liverpool. We're expecting him in this evening (Friday).

"Kenny's neck has locked up on him again. He has had that problem over the last few weeks. He had a very bad night on Wednesday with it. Matt has a rib injury that he picked up in a reserve match on Tuesday and it was a bit sore - so he stayed out of training yesterday as a precaution.

"That's football," said Kerr, "you rarely get a clean run at it. But I'm confident enough that they will all be available for selection."

The manager was, then, putting a brave face on what was a troubling roll-call at yesterday's session. While Cunningham and O'Brien should be fit for Wednesday Kerr could have done without both his first-choice central defenders missing the start of the build-up, in what he described as an "intense" session in Malahide, but it is Duff's injury that is the most worrying.

"There was no holding back in training," said Kerr, "it was good- natured, competitive and sharp but there was a very good atmosphere. There are players at different levels of sharpness - some have had lots of games, some have had very little. We've got to get them all to the same level, then work on the tactical side of it, defensively and attacking. And then work on set-pieces."

Kerr had not yet decided whether he or his assistant Chris Hughton would fly to Lens today to watch France's game against the Faroe Islands tonight, but one of them will be there.

The Faroe Islands will hope that Thierry Henry isn't quite as up for tonight's game as he is for the trip to Lansdowne Road.

"The Irish possess the fighting spirit that we don't have in France and I find it striking," the Arsenal captain said yesterday, "it is going to be a case of everyone going to war, pure and simple."