International news: Having reminded us of his ability to exert considerable influence from the centre of midfield, Roy Keane may also have played a significant part in reshaping Brian Kerr's Republic of Ireland teams of the near future by making himself available again for the forthcoming World Cup campaign.

With the Ireland manager struggling in recent times to strike the right balance between the experienced players who have played key parts in the team's past and the gifted young stars he sees as its future, Keane's presence may give the Dubliner the confidence to hand the newcomers the sort of responsibility this autumn that would, before Thursday, have seemed reckless.

Kerr warned yesterday against expecting too much of youngsters like Aidan McGeady, whose abundant talent, he said, will probably be developed by way of the under-21 side, even if the 18 year-old Celtic player does make his senior debut over the next eight days.

With just eight caps between them, though, Andy Reid and Liam Miller look as if they are already set to be much more than bit-part players in the autumn.

Throwing either of them in for games like September's one in Paris would look bold if central midfield was occupied by the regulars whose failure to impose themselves there in the bigger games of the last campaign contributed much to Ireland's third-place finish in the group.

With the United skipper back to shoulder a much greater burden, however, there will be the opportunity for Kerr to decisively reshape the team's midfield and so greatly enhance the attacking threat from that department while also providing more effective cover to the team's central defence.

Reid's fortunes may be tied to Damien Duff's fitness and Kerr's plans for his most dangerous attacking player.

But both can now expect to feature prominently in Ireland's early qualifiers after composed and surprisingly mature performances in their early outings for the Republic.

Miller, in fact, looks the perfect partner for Keane in the centre of midfield, particularly after a couple of subdued displays, notwithstanding his winner against the Romanians by Matt Holland. But a more obvious vacancy exists out on the right due to the persistent problems with injury suffered by Jason McAteer and Steven Reid over the past year or so.

In the centre Miller would be free to get forward into the box as Keane, particularly against Ireland's main rivals, settles into the space in front of the defence. But at Celtic the young Corkman has operated well in the wider position and as Thursday's performance showed, he is capable of doing so at international level too.

The Nottingham Forest winger, meanwhile, has played on the right more than once for Ireland already and would be displaced from his preferred left side if Kerr opts to play Duff in what, as we have seen during the Premiership season just ended, is his most effective role. The manager may well decide, however, that he needs the Chelsea player elsewhere. He could, for instance, be used up front again if Clinton Morrison, who has developed a knack for doing most of his best work out wide while fluffing a succession of good chances in front of goal, doesn't develop a scoring touch.

When Morrison had scored five goals in 11 appearances there was considerable optimism that he might be the perfect partner for Robbie Keane but five in 19 looks a little less promising and the prospect of the 25-year-old spending a good deal of time on the Birmingham sidelines again next season suggests that it will be difficult for a lively and enthusiastic striker to develop into a more prolific one.

With David Connolly and Alan Lee the only natural strikers seriously competing for the role, Kerr has given Morrison every chance to make himself an automatic choice but the Birmingham City striker must start doing more to justify his manager's faith if he is to be sure of his place after the summer.

In defence only the second centre half's shirt is really up for grabs and Andy O'Brien is probably now best place to take it, although again that is in part because Gary Breen's prolonged absence has meant that the Sunderland player has relinquished his status as the "man in possession".

At club level O'Brien is prone to the odd error but he has, nevertheless, been a surprisingly consistent performer for Newcastle over the past couple of seasons and does particularly well when playing alongside Jonathan Woodgate.

When O'Brien does slip up, the England defender often has the pace required to redeem the situation, something that the 24-year-old may not be able to count on with the hugely impressive, but none too quick, Kenny Cunningham.