PREMIER LEAGUE:ANDY REID is likely to return to the Sunderland side for tonight's friendly game against Shamrock Rovers at Tolka Park after being rested by manager Roy Keane for the 6-0 defeat of Athlone Town on Thursday evening.

Keane said after the game he had decided against involving Reid, Craig Gordon or Danny Higginbotham as they had looked a little fatigued but insisted "the three of them will be fine for the Rovers game".

Tickets for the match will be on sale, priced €35, from a Ticketmaster booth on the Drumcondra Road from 5pm this afternoon.

One Irish player set to miss the game is former Cork City forward Roy O'Donovan who has moved from Sunderland to Dundee United on a season-long loan.

United boss Craig Levein said he was delighted with the deal, insisting he had tried to sign the player prior to his move from Ireland to the Stadium of Light.

The move should mean regular first-team football for O'Donovan although the Corkman, who turns 23 tomorrow, may still feel disappointed he will not get the chance to build immediately on the 17 Premier League appearances he made for the English club since his arrival last summer.

Keane, meanwhile, was being linked once again yesterday with a move for Reading's Kevin Doyle after it was reported an attempt to sign Benni McCarthy from Blackburn had failed due to Blackburn's determination to hang on to the striker.

The manager did not name names but admitted in the wake of the Athlone win that his search for new recruits of the required quality was still proving difficult. "We know we need one or two more players," he said, "and we're on the lookout but it's very hard, some of the prices we're being quoted are crazy."

Reading would be expected to seek something in excess of €6 million for Doyle but it remains far from certain at this stage that Keane is willing to offer that sort of money for the Ireland international. There was certainly little sense from Doyle as he talked yesterday about Reading's prospects of winning promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt that he anticipates moving anywhere anytime soon.

Another former Cork City player, meanwhile, has moved from Reading to Brentford on a month's loan. Alan Bennett made 11 appearances for the League Two outfit towards the end of last season after featuring a similar number of times for Southampton.

He has yet to make his league debut for Steve Coppell's side.