Rep of Ireland v Czech Rep:As Gary Doherty reflected yesterday on what has been a better than expected season at White Hart Lane it was his Tottenham team-mate, Stephen Kelly, who was handed more dramatic cause for celebration with the 20-year-old defender receiving his first senior international call up from Brian Kerr.
Kelly, a quick and agile defender who can play at either right back or centre half, has been seen as an exciting prospect around the London club for some time and on Saturday he made his third Premiership appearance when he played for 40 minutes of the 1-0 defeat by Southampton.
It is primarily for his performances in a couple of the Irish underage sides that he has been rewarded by Kerr, who mentioned the progress displayed in both the UAE, where Kelly performed well at the youth World Cup, and Madeira where he skippered the under-21s to tournament success.
"He's been out on loan a couple of times and done well in the third, second and then the first divisions," said Kerr. "This season he's started to get a chance to show what he can do in the premier league. I've also seen him play for the under-20s and under-21s and he's impressed me. He's versatile and I've said before that that's something we want to encourage in the players."
The Dubliner was one of three men drafted in to Ireland's squad for tomorrow evening's game against the Czech Republic. With defensive options running low following the withdrawal of Andy O'Brien, Richard Dunne and Steve Finnan, Nottingham Forest's John Thompson has also been added to the panel while a swifter than expected return to first team action at Celtic has prompted Kerr to replace the injured Stephen McPhail with Liam Miller. "I spoke to Liam a couple of weeks ago and he said that he expected to be back playing within a week," said Kerr yesterday, "but I thought he would play a reserve team game or something and then take it from there. Instead he's been right back in it with the first team so I rang Celtic this morning and they had no objection to him coming over. Whether he plays or not is another thing but it's good that he'll be involved."
Having finally established himself in his preferred position at club level, meanwhile, Doherty will receive another boost tomorrow when he starts a game in central defence for the first time in his international career.
"It's nice to get the chance to show what I can do," said Doherty yesterday. "Andy O'Brien did tremendously well against the Brazilians so I know I'm probably a little down the pecking order but generally I'm happy with the ways things are going for me at the moment.
"At one stage I was probably seventh-choice centre half at Spurs and fifth-choice striker and before the season I thought I'd be leaving. To be honest, I wanted to get away. Now I'm playing and I've signed a new contract, it's quite a turnaround on how I felt back in the summer."
Still keen on a move, however, after being the subject of considerable speculation back in January - much of it linking him with Tottenham - is Andy Reid. The 21-year-old made it clear yesterday that he would like to graduate to Premiership football sooner rather than later, a sense of urgency that has fuelled a desire to move on from the City Ground.
"I'm happy there because after seven years I'm very settled and I like the place but I do want to play at the highest level and if I'm realistic I have to admit that that's probably not going to happen with Forest," he said.
There was a hint too that Reid's progress on the international front had left him feeling increasingly impatient with life in the English first division. "The week of the Brazil game I played against Walsall, had the international game and went back to play Rotherham away," he said with a slightly rueful grin.
"But that's the situation I have to keep my head in," he added, "and I felt that when I went to Rotherham I did the job I needed to. I gave a good account of myself. That's what I have to keep doing."
Asked about the growing weight of expectation he has had to cope with since establishing himself at Forest and making the breakthrough with the Republic, he said, "It hasn't been a problem really. I'm quite confident in my own ability. I'm not trying to be big headed about it but I felt I could make the step up to the higher level and I think I've shown that although I realise it's only two games.
"I want to keep progressing. I'm always looking to improve my game and I do a lot of work on the training ground to develop as a player. I know what I have to do when I go on the pitch. I know where I want to go and I know how to get there."
The Czechs, meanwhile, have added highly-rated and Chelsea-bound Rennes goalkeeper Petr Cech to their squad following his unexpected return from injury at the weekend. Libor Sionk and Roma Tyce are also included following the withdrawal over the weekend of Jiri Jaroski and Karel Poborsky.
