The World Cup play-off between the Republic of Ireland and France at Croke Park on November 14th will have an 8pm kick-off, the FAI confirmed this morning. The return leg at the Stade de France (Nov 18th) will start at 9pm local time (8pm Irish).

Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni is due to name his squad for both games on Friday.

The Italian will wait until the completion of this week’s League Cup ties in England before finalising his selection with one name likely to be at the forefront of his mind.

Blackburn’s Steven Reid made a scoring return from injury in a 5-2 win over Peterbrough this evening. The midfielder had played just twice for Rovers this season but now appears to have overcome the Achilles problem that sidelined him in recent weeks.

Having avoided the outbreak of swine flu at Ewood Park, Reid started and scored form the spot in the 45th minute before being replaced by David Dunn in a tactical switch 20 minutes from time.

Franck Ribery’s progress, meanwhile, from his persistent knee problem is going better than expected but the French international will still definitely miss both play-offs.

The Bayern Munich winger has been absent for almost a month due to tendinitis in his left knee and it was feared he may need an operation that would rule him out until next March. However, his club doctor believes he could be back in action before Christmas.

“Franck is doing a lot better,” Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt explained. “We will follow his progress for a month and then re-evaluate.

“We cannot definitely exclude an operation, but I currently favour a more conventional treatment . . it is certainly foreseeable for him to return before the end of the year.”