Roy Keane's much anticipated return to the Irish team moved another step closer yesterday when the Manchester United midfielder arrived safely at the squad's north Dublin hotel ahead of this afternoon's flight to Poland.
Although there were no indications from the team's management regarding the player's fitness, and Keane declined to speak to the media last night, there were no suggestions that the 32-year-old had sustained any injuries in United's 1-0 home defeat by Liverpool which might prevent him from earning his 59th international cap in Wednesday's game.
The Corkman took in yesterday's rugby match at Lansdowne Road before returning to the squad's base, where the majority of a slightly reshuffled panel had gathered by the middle of yesterday evening. Defections had forced Brian Kerr to draft in a couple of replacements, and one casualty, of a sort, is the eagerly awaited reunion between Keane and Jason McAteer, as the Sunderland midfielder has stayed on at Sunderland due to a hamstring problem.
Blackburn's Jonathan Douglas was the only new face around the team base last night. The Clones-born player received his first senior call up from Brian Kerr just three months after establishing himself as regular in Graeme Souness's first team at Ewood Park.
Douglas was one of three players drafted in by Kerr last night following the withdrawals, due to injury, of McAteer, Gary Breen and Chelsea's Damien Duff, who is reported to be still suffering from a virus. Kevin Kilbane and Rory Delap had pulled out of the trip on Saturday evening, while Stephen Carr and Paddy Kenny had been ruled out during the week, to leave the Ireland manager without a total of seven of his original travelling party.
The shortfall prompted calls to Steven Reid and Alan Quinn, as well as 23-year-old Douglas.
Other changes to the travelling party appeared to remain likely last night, with Kerr disappearing for a considerable spell in order to check on the fitness of some of those who had not yet arrived in Dublin and, it seems, to call in further replacements.
The inclusion of Gary Doherty, who did not even feature on the bench for Tottenham in yesterday's draw with Arsenal, in this afternoon's final travelling squad looks doubtful, while Robbie Keane, Nicky Colgan and Ian Harte were among the other players whose intention to make the trip had not been confirmed last night.
Reid's return to the squad will at least provide some consolation to Kerr who has not been overburdened with options on the right hand side of midfield in recent outings. The Blackburn player was outstanding in the manager's first game in charge, against Scotland in Glasgow last February, and has made five international appearances since. But he has struggled with a succession of injury problems in recent months.
For Douglas, the call-up must seem like another significant breakthrough in a season of dramatic progress. Just a couple of months ago Kerr had played down the midfielder's chances of featuring at this level in the immediate future, but with his options limited and the player having continued to make swift progress at club level, there is the possibility that Douglas could, by Wednesday night, become the eighth player from the under-17 European championship-winning squad of 1998 to be capped at senior level.
Stephen Ward, meanwhile, was last night set to be rewarded for his fine start to the season at Bohemians with a call-up to the under-21 squad for tomorrow night's game in Poland.
Don Givens suffered a succession of withdrawals over the weekend, with Stephen Paisley of Longford Town, Leeds United's Paul Keegan, Jonathan Walters of Hull, Liam Kearney of Cork City and Borussia Dortmund's Patrick Kohlmann all informing him they would not be fit enough to make the trip.
In their places, the Ireland manager called in Ian Simpemba of Wycombe Wanderers, Arsenal's Patrick Cregg and Daryl Murphy of Waterford United. He was also trying to establish last night whether Ward or Sean Dillon of Longford would be available to travel, and it is possible that both will be on the team plane at lunchtime today.
In the Eircom league, meanwhile, Noel King has resigned as manager of First Division promotion hopefuls Finn Harps. The Dubliner cited personal reasons for his decision, pointing in particular to the difficulty he had with the amount of travel involved in doing the job. Sean McGowan will again act as caretaker manager until a long-term appointment is made.
