THE FAI announced yesterday Giovanni Trapattoni will be putting in a shift (well, an hour or so anyway) at the Carrolls store in Dublin’s Suffolk Street at 1.30pm tomorrow by which time he should have a better idea which of this week’s cast of extras might have what it takes to take on even a supporting role next week.
With several regulars having cried off and more expected to follow over the weekend, the Italian’s help in shifting a few more tickets for the RDS games will doubtless be appreciated and to grease the wheels a little, his employers have uncoupled admission to Tuesday’s game against Paraguay from Friday’s against Algeria while retaining the incentive of access to August’s Manchester United friendly.
Of more immediate interest to Trapattoni, however, is this evening’s game against the Irish Juniors, a team drawn from the country’s amateur ranks, which will provide the veteran coach with another opportunity to assess some fairly unfamiliar players in a slightly competitive setting.
One of those the 71-year-old might be forgiven for being least familiar with is Derby County midfielder Paul Green, whose performance on Tuesday against the under-23s was hailed afterwards by the manager as one of the night’s success stories.
Green qualifies through his Westport-born grandfather Patrick Cottingham and has always been keenly aware of his eligibility to play for the Republic. Non-league football with Doncaster Rovers was scarcely the ideal springboard to achieving international recognition, however, and so he has few complaints about having remained under the radar. Gradually, though, that all started to change.
“My granddad and uncle had always said, ‘Put yourself forward’, but I was at Doncaster for nine years and when you’re in the Conference and League Two you just think you’re too far away,” he says.
“The higher I got, though, I just got pushed into it really and I decided to put myself forward. It was when I went to Derby really, my granddad said I should push forward so I sent a letter in. Since then, they must have come and watched me a few times this year and luckily I’ve got in.”
Green, now 27, clearly views it as a case of better late than never with the midfielder expressing his delight at being involved in Trapattoni’s training squad and excitement at the prospect of meeting up with the more established players over the coming weekend.
“It’s a great honour, a privilege to get the call-up,” he says, before acknowledging the challenge he faces to displace either Keith Andrews or Glenn Whelan, both of whom have become firmly established in Trapattoni’s set-up over the past couple of years.
“They’ve held the shirt down for a couple of years,” he says. “I’m all energy really but I think Glenn and Keith are the same so it’s going to be tough but I’m taking it one step at a time and just happy around the squad and getting a few training sessions under my belt.”
Green will get another chance to make an impression on the Italian this evening as he is set to start the training game in what is a largely unchanged side.
Eight of the 11 players that started Tuesday’s game were named again by Trapattoni with Keith Fahey, Anthony Stokes and Keiren Westwood making way for Kevin Foley, Liam Lawrence and Joe Murphy respectively.
The manager said yesterday, however, that Fahey and Stokes as well as Brian Murphy and Eddie Nolan, will feature at some stage of the match in a team that will once again be captained by Paul McShane.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND XI (v Ireland Juniors):J Murphy (Scunthorpe); McShane (Hull City), Duffy (Everton), O'Dea (Celtic), Cunningham (Manchester City); Lawrence (Stoke City), Foley (Wolves), Green (Derby County), Long (Reading); Best (Newcastle), Sheridan (Celtic).
