World Cup qualifying/ Republic of Ireland v France: Few things in life are more hierarchical than professional football but in one way at least tomorrow's meeting between Ireland and France has proven to be something of a leveller.

"Half my family can't get tickets for this game," Andy Reid announced at the team hotel yesterday before adding, for the benefit of nearby association officials, "a lot of the players are having problems and the FAI aren't doing much to help us".

Whether the half of his family that do get inside the ground get to see Reid in action from the start of the game remains to be seen.

Damien Duff trained without any apparent problems yesterday morning and now looks, as Brian Kerr came close to confirming, certain to start.

Kevin Kilbane and Matt Holland also took part and so the manager finds himself in the position of being able to field the same starting XI that he did in Paris almost a year ago if he so desires.

The major question now, as it was last October, looks to be whether Reid or Steve Finnan will start on the right side of midfield, although the Ireland manager did broaden the speculation out a little during yesterday's session by using Ian Harte at left back and John O'Shea in central midfield for a spell.

Reid lost out last time around but has fared well under Kerr since making his senior debut against Canada a little short of two years ago. The 23-year-old has featured in 16 of the 19 games since and has started five of the seven qualifiers in the current campaign.

In both Tel Aviv and Paris, though, Finnan was preferred on the right side of midfield for his defensive abilities and the Tottenham player faces the possibility that he might again be sidelined if Kerr seeks to keep things tight from the start of the game.

"I think everybody in the squad is confident they can do well if they're put in the starting line-up and so all I can say is that if I am lucky enough to be selected then I'll be giving it 100 per cent," he says. "If I do play then, yeah, it would definitely be the biggest game of my career. It's the stuff that you dream of when you're a lad."

Reid watched Ireland's last really famous home victory over Holland from the stands with the rest of the then under-21 squad and accepts that the home side could do with asserting themselves in the way Roy Keane and co did that Saturday afternoon in September 2001.

"Definitely, we have to impose ourselves physically. There are moments in games when everybody suddently really gets into it and if Roy gets in an early tackle on Zidane (as he did on Marc Overmars four years ago) then everybody will probably be fairly happy.

"But we do have to play our own game too," he adds quickly. "We've played some brilliant stuff over the past couple of years, some of it has been a joy to be involved with and it's important that we don't go looking to change that now.

"Obviously we've got to show them a lot of respect but I don't think they're quite the French team that won the World Cup. And without being disrespectful, they won't be looking forward to playing us at Lansdowne Road.

"They'll look at our record there and see that not many teams come away with a result. We've made it into a bit of a fortress again and we can take confidence from that."

During his short time in the team Reid has already shown considerable versatility, causing problems for defenders with his running from both wide and central positions, showing a good eye for a pass and, on three occasions to date, an ability to finish too. At club level he has made the step up to Premiership football with apparent ease, but he remains somewhat in the shadow of the team's other winger, Damien Duff, a fact he more or less admits himself.

"Of course, it's important that he (Duff) performs. He's a world-class player and he's proven it at international level. There's lot of talk about Zidane and rightly so because he's shown that on a big stage he produces the goods, but we've got players like that too - Damien's one - and a few who are trying to get there, like myself.

"Personally, I still feel I'm getting better but as a team we believe that we have the quality to win this game, to take it by the scruff of the neck, take the three points and then go on and win the group."

To do it the Irish will have to defend as well as they have in any recent games while taking whatever chances they generate against what is, with the return of several key players, a hugely experienced French team.

"Sure, the defensive side of things is going to be key," he says, "because the French are the sort of side that can hurt you very quickly. For Duffer and me out on the wings that's going to be really important, but then we're going to have to get forward in order to hurt them."

It was the observation of a man who believes he is going to play which in turn would suggest that Kerr is more anxious to break the unprecedented sequence of draws in this group than to settle for another point and stake everything on beating Switzerland well in a month's time.

Either way, it's not hard to understand why the whole of Reid clan, like a good many others, would like to be at Lansdowne Road tomorrow evening.