SOCCER:JUST A few weeks ago it seemed his squad development programme was stuck in neutral, but with three new players handed senior call-ups for the game against Brazil, the promise of more to follow before the summer and another positive declaration by a promising youngster from north of the border, Giovanni Trapattoni finally looked to be working his way up through the gears at pace yesterday.

Wigan’s James McCarthy, Marc Wilson of Portsmouth and Manchester City’s Greg Cunningham were all included in the 23-man squad for the game against Brazil at the Emirates next Tuesday and there were giddy hints that Jamie O’Hara, and one or two others, will be on board before too long.

In an apparently separate development, Shane Duffy, a young team-mate of Séamus Coleman at Everton, turned down a senior call-up from Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington for next week’s friendly against Albania, with the 18-year-old from Derry informing the manager, after his name had been included in a squad list released to the media yesterday morning, he would prefer to play for the Republic.

Worthington subsequently described the rules which allow the teenager to switch allegiance as “ludicrous” and said the situation “needs to be resolved” despite the fact that Fifa ruled on the matter only last year.

The IFA continue to grumble about the matter and Duffy’s defection may, indeed, spark a new attempt by the association to challenge the status quo, however unlikely it is they will succeed in changing anything.

There is unlikely to be much rancour, on the other hand, in the event that O’Hara and a couple of the other England-born players, who are eligible to play for the Republic, confirm – as Trapattoni suggested some will – their intention to make themselves available to the Italian for selection this side of the summer.

The Tottenham midfielder, currently on loan to Portsmouth, was not identified by name, but, Trapattoni said: “We have another two or three (new players). Sometimes when we talk and the story goes into the newspapers, other teams call and play them so we don’t want to say names.

“But they are on standby. They are very good players. There is one in particular. Left-footed though he doesn’t always play on the left. I cannot say the name. But we need to prepare the documentation before they come with us.”

O’Hara, capped seven times at under-21 level by England but eligible for both the Republic and Northern Ireland since last year’s Fifa rule changes, appears to fit the bill for the left-footed player, while Newcastle’s Kevin Nolan and Gary Cahill are amongst the most prominent of the other players entitled to switch their allegiance.

Trapattoni, however, also provided some firm pointers regarding who might be making way for the new arrivals yesterday, with Steve Finnan clearly peripheral to the manager’s thinking at this stage and Kevin Kilbane set to be consigned to the margins of the squad for the upcoming European Championship campaign.

Kilbane is included in the current panel and seems likely to start, with Trapattoni suggesting the players who performed so credibly against France “deserve” to feature against the five times world champions.

Beyond that, however, the Italian made it clear Kilbane is somebody he would be pleased to have around as long as the player accepts he may no longer command a place in the manager’s starting line-up.

“There are players who tell you: ‘I am available if you wish me to play or not play,’ and the team is very strong when you have these players.

“Damien Duff said it after the last game and these players are very important because they are available. Coaches need these players and Kevin Kilbane is like this, Duff also.”

Duff, though, is playing well for his club and reminded the manager of just how important he can be by scoring spectacularly for Fulham on Sunday as Trapattoni watched from the stands.

Kilbane, on the other hand, is finding first team club football increasingly hard to come by and Cunningham’s sudden promotion into the squad underlines the manager’s determination to develop some options at left back as quickly as possible.

On the face of it, Stephen Ward has vastly more experience and a much stronger claim on a place in the squad, having played regularly for Wolves for some time now, often on the left side of defence, but Trapattoni seemed to suggest the Dubliner had effectively failed his first audition for the role almost a year and a half ago when he was part of the Ireland B squad for the friendly game against Nottingham Forest at Dalymount Park and that the former Bohemians player will have to wait his turn before getting to try out again.

Finnan, meanwhile, suffered the rather damning fate yesterday of being classified by Trapattoni with Lee Carsley, the Birmingham City midfielder who, the veteran coach regularly observes, he is happy to know is out there, somewhere, still available.

“We know what Finnan can do,” said Trapattoni, before adding a little ominously for the 33-year-old: “We don’t forget.”

There may be more victims if Trapattoni’s plans for a training camp in May go well. Most of the more experienced players will be allowed to miss the trip before joining up for the games against Paraguay and Algeria on the 25th and 28th of the month respectively, but a significant number of younger newer players will be given the opportunity to become part of the squad’s spring and summer make-over.

REPUBLIC OF SQUAD: Given (Manchester City), Westwood (Coventry), Murphy (Scunthorpe); Dunne (Aston Villa), Kelly (Fulham), Kilbane (Hull), Foley (Wolves), St Ledger (Preston), McShane (Hull), Wilson (Portsmouth), Cunningham (Manchester City); McGeady (Celtic), Duff (Fulham), Gibson (Manchester United), Whelan (Stoke), Andrews (Blackburn), Hunt (Hull), Lawrence (Stoke), McCarthy (Wigan); Doyle (Wolves), Keane (Tottenham), Long (Reading), Best (Newcastle).