INTERNATIONAL SOCCER EURO 2012 QUALIFYING:MORE CONSISTENT, it seems at times, than most of his players, Giovanni Trapattoni reiterated his belief yesterday that the Republic of Ireland can qualify for next year's European Championship finals, although he admitted winning June's return game against Macedonia could prove a pretty tall order if key squad members start to run out of steam during the final weeks of the English league campaign.

The Italian expressed concern that a potential match-winner like Damien Duff could travel for the game in Skopje “empty” after playing so many games for Fulham over the course of the season.

Perhaps it’s an inclination to plan for the worst then that has prompted the Ireland manager to release a handful of his most experienced players back to their clubs over the weekend.

Kevin Doyle (medial ligament) was injured, while Kevin Kilbane was eager to play a part in Huddersfield’s League One game against Notts County but Trapattoni also let Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne and Duff go, leaving him to field a side against Uruguay tomorrow night in which the average age is likely to be almost five years younger than is the case when he has his first-choice 11 available to him.

Keiren Westwood, the manager said, will start again against the Uruguayans as the manager seeks to make the goalkeeper “more comfortable” in an international environment. Keith Fahey and James McCarthy will both play as well after coming on late in Saturday’s game.

Glenn Whelan may yet miss the game due to a slight muscle problem and amid so much upheaval Trapattoni said he would decide on his line-up, tactics and skipper today.

Stephen Kelly, Ciarán Clark and Liam Lawrence all seem set to at least feature, however, while Anthony Stokes and Cillian Sheridan were placed on stand-by yesterday for a late call-up.

“If we hadn’t won (against Macedonia), I wouldn’t have let them (the senior players) go because psychologically their presence would have been important but as it is Uruguay are very technical team and the game will be an opportunity to assess the younger players’ behaviour and mentality,” said the manager yesterday.

Trapattoni said he was the one to suggest to Keane, Dunne and Duff they head back to England after Saturday’s win.

“You’ve got to save them for later,” he said.

The 72 year-old expressed confidence in the wake of the 2-1 win at the Aviva Stadium that Ireland can complete a double over the Macedonians on June 4th and so keep pace with qualification rivals Russia and Slovakia, who will start as favourites to win home games that day against Armenia and Andorra respectively.

He admitted to having some concern, however, about the fitness of his most experienced players by then. “I’m not worried about the heat there,” he said, “more the fact that the players run the risk of being empty by then after playing so many games.

“It’s not just Duff – may God look after him – but many of the other players. Even before this game I was concerned about one or two; I thought Doyle was a little tired. But if we can reach June in the same shape as we are in now then it will be great and I would be confident that we can win the game and take first place in the group.”

Tiredness is unlikely to be a factor for Doyle now, of course, with the Wolves striker set to spend at least a month on the sidelines recovering for the injury he sustained just 20 minutes into Saturday’s game.

The incident will come as a major blow to Mick McCarthy but Trapattoni said he hoped to have the striker back in time for the next qualifying game. John O’Shea should be back too, but Richard Dunne will miss the game in Skopje after picking up his second yellow card of the campaign.

Trapattoni, meanwhile, laughed off the idea that Uefa might take action against him as a result of his behaviour while Ireland were briefly down to 10 men after the striker had left the pitch.

Trapattoni became seriously agitated and made a bit of contact with one of the referee’s Hungarian assistants, appearing to push or grab at his arm, while protesting his inability to get Shane Long into the action. In fact, the ball had simply not gone out of play from the point at which Long was ready to come on until then with the Macedonians putting together perhaps their longest passing sequence of the game so there was nothing the match officials could do.

In the end, Trapattoni was simply warned by the referee to return to the technical area.

“Never,” replied Trapattoni when asked if has ever been sent to the stands during the course of his long career in management. “Well once maybe,” he quickly corrected himself before recalling an incident during a Milan derby when he took exception to what he saw as the referee’s inconsistency. He received, he said, a four-day ban.