IF LIAM Brady’s involvement with the Irish squad this week provides a link to the celebrated Irish side that beat Bulgaria 22 years ago before qualifying for their first major championship, Giovanni Trapattoni mirrors the realisation towards the end of 2007 that outside intervention was going to be required if another finals tournament was to be reached anytime soon.

Rather than play to the squad’s somewhat modest strengths, the Italian has viewed rigid adherence to a plan as representing the best way forward and to date the results have been promising.

Now, having watched as the veteran coach has restored some pride by guiding his side to wins over the sort of countries that Ireland would traditionally have been expected to beat, we will get the first real inkling at Croke Park this evening of whether his blueprint for success provides the basis for more substantial progress.

Bulgaria, we have seen already in this campaign, are no world beaters but then it is 16 games, seven years and three managers since Ireland won a qualifying game against a team considered a serious contender for a top-two finish.

Eight of those matches were against Russia, France, and Germany and the Czech Republic but six involved failing to beat either Switzerland or Israel, something that the Bulgarians would undoubtedly take considerable encouragement from if it were only a draw that they needed.

As it happens, though, tonight’s visitors need to take the three points more than Trapattaoni’s side do. Still, given how depleted they are, the game represents an exceptional opportunity for the Irish to kill off their challenge for a play-off place, something their coach, Stanimir Stoilov, readily conceded at his pre-match press conference yesterday.

The visitors were clearly amused by the extent of the local media’s preoccupation with Dimitar Berbatov and made the point that their problems extend to well beyond the absence of the Manchester United striker.

Four English-based players are unavailable for a game Stoilov’s side must win. As well as being short of proven goalscorers, two players the coach would desperately like to start, goalkeeper Georgi Petkov and full-back Zhivko Milanov, are also considered significant doubts.

Stiliyan Petrov, as least, is fit and will play a key part in driving his side forward if they really are, as their coach insists, going to take the game to Ireland.

It is a measure of the visiting side’s relative inexperience in key areas, however, that the 29-year-old has more caps and as many goals as the rest of likely midfield and attack combined.

The ability of Ireland’s central midfield to cope under pressure remains a concern for Trapattoni although if Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan struggle then the team’s prospects of taking anything from the game in Bari will look rather slimmer.

Of as much concern this time out, though, will be the capacity of the Irish wide players to get beyond the full-backs and provide a decent supply of ball for Kevin Doyle and Robbie Keane.

With Damien Duff out, Stephen Hunt starts and though the Reading midfielder is not of quite the same calibre as the player he replaces, he has, on a good day, the ability to make a major impact on a game like this.

Aiden McGeady’s fitness remains a major concern, though, and while he came through yesterday afternoon’s training session without any apparent problems, he remains a slight doubt due to the bruising on his foot. Trapattoni said that he would not be risked unless “100 per cent fit” for fear that he would have to be replaced early on, but the winger might be viewed as more likely to play an important part in securing a win tonight than he is a draw on Wednesday and in those circumstances he may well be risked.

In the circumstances, Andy Reid might have been a useful man to have on the bench, to be used either as a replacement winger or, should the Irish find themselves chasing the game again, a more creative influence in central midfield, but the coach chose instead to draft in Anthony Stokes and, despite the fact that the 20-year-old doesn’t add much at all to the squad at this particular point in time, it’s hard to be all that shocked by the decision.

The Italian, indeed, sprang no real surprises at his press conference yesterday unless, that is, you were the reporter from Cork who, on the basis of his accent, Trapattoni presumed to be Bulgarian. Paul McShane’s place at right back was confirmed and Ireland’s improving “mentality” in just about every department lauded.

As he reflected on the sending off against Bulgaria that effectively hastened the end of his international career at Lansdowne Road back in October 1987, Brady gave the latter a mention too. “I think it was a great game for Ireland and one of my best games for Ireland and obviously the win was vital to us. But there’ll be a lot more people at Croke Park than there was then and while I can’t get sent off this time we can still win 2-0.

“I got injured in between that,” he continued, “so I didn’t really have time to regret the sending off (the result of a second yellow card for retaliation) although looking back I wouldn’t be happy if one of our players did what I did. But then we’ve drummed that into them; that all those little things can count in the end.

“It’s the same with the set pieces,” he observed. “It’s vital to stop goals going in against us at set pieces. It can be a little bit boring for players to have to work on those things. It’s all repetition, repetition but in the end those things can make a difference and that’s the kind of manager he (Trapattoni) is.

“That goal against Georgia certainly wasn’t the start we wanted but we showed tremendous character in the second half and played a lot of good football as well. We want to perform like we did in the second half that night and avoid any silly mistakes. If we do that we’re confident we can take the three points from this game.”

IRELAND(probable): Given (Manchester City); McShane (Sunderland), Dunne (Manchester City), O'Shea (Manchester United), Kilbane (Hull City); McGeady (Celtic), Whelan (Stoke City), Andrews (Blackburn Rovers), S Hunt (Reading); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Doyle (Reading).

BULGARIA(probable): Petkov (Levski Sofia); Manolev (Litex Lovech), Tomashich (Maccabi Tel-Aviv), Stoyanov (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Milanov (Levski Sofia); Petrov (Aston Villa), Telkiyski (Hapoel Tel-Aviv), Angelov (Energie Cottbus); Rangelov (Energie Cottbus), Popov (Litex Lovech), Georgiev (Terek Grozni).

Referee: I Bebek (Croatia).