While John O'Shea helped his manager's cause yesterday by coming through an entire training session at Malahide without any apparent problems, Bobby Robson mounted an impassioned defence of Steve Staunton to journalists whom he accused of being unfair to the Republic of Ireland boss.

Robson, whose trip to Dublin for these qualifiers falls between two bouts of chemotherapy, insisted that Staunton has done sufficiently well during his two years in charge to merit a second campaign during which the work invested over the past 18 months in young players would begin to bear fruit.

After mentioning that he had been in management for 14 years before getting the England job, Robson was asked if somebody as inexperienced as the Louthman should have been given the job in the first place. He replied that the question was essentially irrelevant now but cited Kenny Dalglish and Roy Keane as other examples of retired players who had also been handed big management jobs at a time when they had no experience to speak of.

He said he would discuss his own role in the Republic's managerial set up with Staunton and John Delaney when the present campaign is over in a few weeks time but he was adamant that the man he was hired to mentor over the past couple of years should be allowed to continue in the job.

"I think Stan's getting a bit of a raw deal," he said despite admitting that the Irish had been "shocking" against Cyprus in Nicosia a year ago. "We've played 10 games and I would say there were only two (Cyprus and San Marino away) out of 10 where we were poorish.

"I took little Ipswich to Barcelona, to Real Madrid, to St Etienne but Stan never had that experience. He's first job was an international job. He was a rookie manager and he has learned over the last two years.

"He has learned about training, tactics, about his players and what system to play. He's had two years in the job and he needs another two years - another campaign. That's my opinion.

"I've said that to John Delaney, like I'm saying it to you now, 'let him get on with the job - you've given him the job, you've thought about it before you've given him the job so now just let him do it.'"

In the meantime, he suggests, the press should take more account of the resources at his disposal and go a little easier on him. "You know what it's about," he continued, "it's about winning. If you've got great players you'll do it, if you have got ordinary players, or moderate players or players who will make mistakes you won't do it. So it's a tough world, international football, and there's pressure on you guys too, I know, which you then try to turn into pressure on the manager and so forth."

Ultimately, he concludes, "it's a wonderful job. But he needs a chance, he needs support, he needs a bit of guidance. He needs a bit of help and some understanding. He needs some fairness and some reason, people being constructive."

Robson insists there is cause for optimism in terms of the talent available but, he cautions, many of the players need a good deal more time if they are realise their potential.

"Let me tell you, those players need more experience of club football, never mind international football. Kevin Doyle was playing his football with Cork two years ago. Now, he's in the Premiership. The gap is like that," he says, pointing to a bottle of water on the table, "and champagne. But he needs two years in the Premiership or more. Stevie Coppell will tell you about that. He is playing at that (club) level, we are asking him to play at this (international) level. Doyley has played against Blackburn Rovers. Is playing against Germany more difficult? I'll say. So these young players do need time."

Asked about his own future, the former England boss was frank but a little less forthright. "I'm fighting, I'm all right, I'm okay," he said. "I've been on chemotherapy, as you know, and that seems to be working a little bit. I'm going to recommence in two weeks' time for three more sessions and then I take it from there. The job is something I have to discuss in the future with John Delaney and Stan, of course. I'm here until the end of this campaign obviously. We've got to try and win these last two games and finish as high as we can. So I will certainly see that out. Then I will look at it from my point of view and when I know that decision, I'll tell you."

His task over the next couple of days will be to help Staunton engineer the sort of win over Cyprus at Croke Park tomorrow night that might go some way towards erasing the memory of last year's nightmarish 5-2 defeat. In that, the management team will be boosted not just by the increasingly likely return of O'Shea but also the availability of Andy Reid who, Staunton insisted yesterday, will be fit despite not training yesterday.

O'Shea will almost certainly fill in for the suspended Richard Dunne alongside Paul McShane, while Staunton strongly hinted that Darren Potter is heading the queue to replace Lee Carsley.