Rep of Ireland v Australia team news: With next months trip to Cyprus looming large on the horizon, Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has named the strongest team at his disposal for tomorrow night's friendly with Australia in Limerick.
Trapattoni, mindful of that potential banana skin on September 5th, will forgo the opportunity to run the rule over fringe players from the start and instead turn to his tried and tested.
Seán St Ledger gets another opportunity to make the centre half position his own and starts alongside Richard Dunne for the second game in succession.
The 24-year-old will win just his third cap at Thomond Park but has looked assured in his two pervious appearances in an Irish jersey.
Elsewhere, there is a settled look to the side with Kevin Doyle, an unlikely starter last week, deemed fit enough to partner Robbie Keane in attack from the start.
The Irish management team intimated yesterday that Doyle would get just 45 minutes on the pitch but any match time will be welcomed by the Wexford man as he returns from a hernia operation.
There remains a degree of confusion as to whether Darron Gibson or Keith Andrews will start alongside Glenn Whelan in the heart of the Irish midfield.
While the official team announcement, made on the FAI website, has the Blackburn man starting Trapattoni muddied the waters when he suggested the opposite at this evening's press conference.
"I wish to see the new players like Gibson so maybe I will start Gibson for Andrews," he said of the 21-year-old Manchester United midfielder.
"I wish to see the young players grow. Gibson and Andrews are similar players, but Gibson also has another vision. It is important to be strong and he has a strong personality.
"It is very important we give him a chance to grow as a player."
The Italian also denied Stephen Hunt's departure to complete a move to Hull had disrupted their preparations for tomorrow's game.
Hunt returned to the squad this afternoon, after flying out yesterday, and Trapattoni said: "No, in this position we have enough good players so it is not disruption.
"We have Liam Lawrence who can play there so it is fine."
Ireland currently sit second in their World Cup qualification group, just a point behind leaders Italy, and with real hope of playing in next year's finals.
Tomorrow's opponents have already booked their place on the plane to South Africa and at 16th in Fifa's official rankings, are 21 places higher than the Republic.
Trapattoni therefore believes Australia will provide the perfect preparation ahead of next month's crunch encounter.
"It's a good approach match for us to prepare for this important game against Cyprus," he said. "We know they are strong and have many players in England, Scotland and even Russia. They have lots of different personalities which helps them.
"We are preparing for this match with maximum attention, because the result is always important."
Rep of Ireland: Shay Given (Manchester City); John O'Shea (Manchester United), Richard Dunne (Manchester City), Sean St. Ledger (Preston North End), Kevin Kilbane (Hull City); Aiden McGeady (Celtic), Keith Andrews (Blackburn Rovers) or Darron Gibson (Manchester United), Glenn Whelan (Stoke City), Damien Duff (Newcastle United); Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspurs), Kevin Doyle (Wolves).
