Gary Kelly's protracted struggle for fitness reaches a critical stage on Thursday when he turns out for Leeds United in a reserve team game against Birmingham City.

It will end a frustrating six-month lay-off for the Irishman who hasn't played since sustaining a shin injury against Liverpool in the Carlsberg tournament at Lansdowne Road in July. In the intervening period, he has undergone surgery and an extensive rehabilitation programme in the gymnasium during what he describes as the most trying spell of his career.

"I found it all the harder to adjust to life as a spectator because ever since joining Leeds in 1990 I was involved in football on a non-stop basis," he said.

"Doctors have told me the injury was a direct result of that wear and tear, but looking on the positive side it's given me time to look at my career and see where I'm going.

"That was something which perhaps, I needed to do and in the sense that I'm now hungrier than ever for football, it has fired up my enthusiasm for the game."

After such a long absence, club opinion is that he needs two or three reserve team games to complete the fine tuning he needs to re-establish himself, but Kelly is sufficiently optimistic to believe that he will be challenging for a first-team place at Elland Road before the end of the month.

That would give him an outside chance of making Mick McCarthy's Republic of Ireland squad for the European Championship warm-up game against Paraguay on February 10th, but just now, it's not a priority for him.

"Obviously I've missed the Ireland involvement and I can't wait for the chance to return," he said. "First, however, I need to start back with Leeds. Only then can I hope to convince Mick McCarthy that my injury troubles are behind me."

Much has changed since an apparently straight-forward injury plunged Kelly's career into crisis in the summer - Leeds have changed their manager and expanded their youth development programme.

With David O'Leary's options now considerably broadened in the wake of a new policy decision at Elland Road, Kelly is likely to discover that competition for first-team places is sharper than ever.

In an international context, his absence coincided with an upturn in the Irish team's fortunes. The defeat in Yugoslavia notwithstanding, McCarthy has reason to feel satisfied with the way his team started the European Championship qualifying programme.

Yet there can be little doubt that Kelly, playing to his full potential, has much to offer as the Ireland manager prepares for that difficult assignment against FYR Macedonia in Skopje in March.

Before going out of the side at the end of last season Kelly had rediscovered the form which made him an automatic choice in the side in the closing phase of Jack Charlton's time in charge. And the point was acknowledged by McCarthy when he nominated him as captain for the game against Mexico in May.

In Kelly's absence, the right-sided midfield position was reclaimed by Jason McAteer, but in common with many of his Liverpool clubmates, McAteer's current form is scarcely reassuring. Almost certainly, it's one of the positions currently under scrutiny by McCarthy and to that extent Kelly's impending return is at once opportune and welcome.

The news of Alan Maybury, another of Leeds's Irish casualties, is equally encouraging. His injury was almost identical to Kelly's and, like Kelly, he is still waiting to making his debut this season.

After surgery and a painstaking recovery, he is now ready to return to action with the reserves and could well have a part to play in Thursday's fixture against Birmingham. Capped for the first time at senior level against the Czech Republic last March, he represents yet another attractive option at right back.

With players like Denis Irwin, Jeff Kenna, Curtis Fleming and Steve Carr all staking claims for the position, the right back spot is the most competitive position in the national team. To that extent, Maybury has a tough task ahead to force his way into contention. At 21, however, time is on his side.

That comment is also valid of Stephen McPhail, one of the club's emerging players, and David O'Leary also has high hopes of another of his Irish youngsters, Damien Lynch.

Lynch has made steady progress through the ranks and may yet surface at the fringes of first team before the end of the season.