SOCCER WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS: WHILE Kevin Kilbane watched the Irish squad's training session at Malahide from the sidelines yesterday, the absence of Richard Dunne initially prompted the suspicion he might have stayed behind at Manchester City to ensure no newly-signed superstar nicked his locker.
Kilbane, it seems, is determined to play in one if not both of the Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifiers over the coming week, an attitude that has impressed his international manager.
And Giovanni Trapattoni was quick to reassure the media that the big centre back will be available, too, as the 28-year-old was merely rested as a precaution after coming down with a minor throat infection.
"Kevin Kilbane," the veteran Italian said, "will be fine. He is happy that he is here and his mentality is a great example to all the Irish players. I spoke with him yesterday and he said he wanted to play. He's in good form. Tomorrow he will be checked again and I'm sure he can play.
"He may have to have a little bit of protection (on the cheekbone he broke during Wigan's 5-0 defeat of Hull City at the weekend), but it's his mentality that is really important. With that mentality, I am confident we will do well."
Dunne, he added, will be fine too and may join the rest of the squad for training this morning.
"His throat is sore," he said, "but he doesn't have a chill or a fever. It's just a precaution."
The experience of both men, Trapattoni insists, will be important to the squad as they head first to Mainz in Germany for Saturday's game against Georgia, then on to Podgorica for Ireland's first encounter with Montenegro.
"I've said before that players like Kevin and Richard are important. We need their experience to help the younger players."
The team will, of course, have to cope without the injured Damien Duff, and Trapattoni poured cold water on the notion that the Newcastle United winger's absence might open the door to Andy Reid, who has yet to make an appearance for the Ireland manager.
Last month the Italian made it clear he sees Reid as primarily an attacking option in central midfield, but added he was the sort of player who could really only be selected in a team with just one striker. Yesterday, he underlined the fact that he does not see the Sunderland player as in contention to start on the wing by failing to even mention him as he ran through his alternatives to Duff.
"We have other players," he said. "We have other options on the line - we have (Stephen) Hunt, (Andy) Keogh and (Aiden) McGeady. We will see, but our shape with the two men wide is important to us."
With regard to central midfield, Trapattoni had the air of a man intending to keep faith with Steven Reid and Glenn Whelan, even though the latter has not been starting for Stoke City. Asked if he thought the 24-year-old might lack match fitness, Trapattoni said he had been reassured by a conversation he had had with Whelan. "He can give 180 minutes," he beamed, "not only 90."
Overall, he acknowledged, the game will be a tough one for his side, with the Georgians potentially more fired up by the fact they have been obliged to play what should have been a home game in southern Germany.
"We have to be focused now, we have 10 games to qualify and we can't worry about the problems of Georgia, that they are not playing the game where they would like," he said. "I said to players to forget about whether they lost or won games with their clubs, we have to think only about the national team. We have to think about the opponents and we have to play the way we did against Serbia, Colombia and Norway, play with the same mentality. We have to think only about the 90 minutes. Our aim is South Africa. It starts now, and in Italy we say that a good beginning is half the battle."
The FAI, meanwhile, have confirmed that the Georgian federation have allocated 4,850, or almost half of the seats, for Saturday's game at the Bruchweg stadium in Mainz to Irish supporters. Another 2,500 seats will be sold to Germans, while the remaining match tickets - around 3,000 - will be reserved for Georgians.
The Irish allocation will go on sale at booths around the ground from tomorrow at 9am. Sales will continue until 7pm and until 6pm on Friday, with any remaining tickets on sale from 10am on Saturday. Supporters should bring their passports to the stadium.
The 1,000 or so supporters who had secured tickets for the game when it was still going to be staged in Tbilisi have been offered a choice between free tickets for the match in Mainz or for November's friendly against Poland at Croke Park.
The FAI, meanwhile, are to run a tournament with their Montenegran counterparts for supporters of all ages next Wednesday. The event will take place at SC Moraca's ground at 11am.
