Ireland Back in Staunton’s Lineup

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Ireland Back in Staunton’s Lineup

October 4, 2007

By Cathal Dervan

STEPHEN Ireland is back in favor with Irish boss Stephen Staunton just a month after the infamous Grannygate affair and Bolton Wanderers defender Joey O’Brien is also back for the double header against Germany and Cyprus later this month. O’Brien has been plagued by injury for the past 18 months and hasn’t played for his country since Staunton’s debut match against Sweden in 2006 when he won his first cap.

Ireland is back after he falsely claimed his grandmother had died in order to make an early return to Manchester after the 2-2 draw with Slovakia last month.

“It is history now, just one of those things,” insisted Staunton. “It’s unfortunate but as he’s shown at the weekend, Stephen is back to his best. We know Manchester City are helping him out on a daily basis and whatever we can do to help, we’ll do it.”

Ireland will have little more than pride to play for against Germany in the first of the two Euro qualifier games at Croke Park games but Staunton insisted, “It’s out of our hands now but we have to finish the group off as best we can.

“We know that the more victories we get then the higher the seeding we’ll get when the World Cup draw is made. That’s a priority too.”

Staunton also defended his own future as Irish boss. “I never considered my position at all. The players did okay, the performances were good enough to get more points than we did,” he said.

“In Slovakia there was a definite foul against Richard Dunne before their second goal, then in the second game it was always going to be very difficult after we went down to 10 men.

“We’ve taken a lot of positives out of those games and have two good games coming up that we’re looking forward to. If you can’t get motivated to play Germany at any time you’ve got problems. Mathematically we’re not out of it.”

Paul McShane and Stephen Hunt are included even though they are suspended for the first game while Andy O’Brien has been placed on stand-by.

The Republic of Ireland squad to play Germany and Cyprus is: Colgan (Barnsley), C. Doyle (Birmingham), Given (Newcastle), Carr (Newcastle), Dunne (Man City), Finnan (Liverpool), Kelly (Birmingham), McShane (Sunderland), J. O’Brien (Bolton), O’Shea (Man Utd), Carsley (Everton), Douglas (Leeds), Hunt (Reading), Ireland (Man City), Kilbane (Wigan), McGeady (Celtic), A. O’Brien (Hibernian), Potter (Wolves), Reid (Charlton), K. Doyle (Reading), Elliott (Wolves), Keane (Tottenham), Keogh (Wolves), Long (Reading), Murphy (Sunderland).

The match against Germany is set for Saturday, October 13, while Cyprus visit four days later.

Celtic Injuries

CELTIC were left to count the cost of Saturday’s 3-0 home win over Dundee United when

Striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink joined Mark Wilson and Shunsuke Nakamura on the injury list ahead of Wednesday night’s Champions League showdown with AC Milan at Parkhead.

Celtic boss Gordon Strachan revealed, “Jan suffered a hamstring injury after taking a shot and it doesn’t look good. We will just get on with it. We have lost a lot of players over the last few weeks and we just get over it.”

Scott McDonald scored a hat-trick for the Bhoys in the win and said, “It was my first senior hat-trick so it was something special and I will treasure it the rest of my life. Hopefully there will be more to come from me in my time at Celtic.

“I will get all the boys to sign the ball and put it somewhere in the house where everyone can see it. But I won’t be putting it on eBay - no chance of that!”

Former Scottish Home Secretary John Reid is to become chairman of Celtic and will succeed Brian Quinn at the club’s annual general meeting on November 19.

Soccer Shorts

THE FAI have confirmed that the 2007 FAI Ford Cup Final will take place at the new look RDS in Dublin on Sunday, December 2. The venue will have a capacity of 18,000 of which 16,500 are seated. Bohemians, Cork City, UCD and Longford Town will contest the semifinals . . .

KILKENNY City have appointed under 21 team coach Noel Byrne as their new first team manager after Tommy Gaynor left the eircom League’s bottom side by mutual consent . . .

IRISH midfielder Stephen Gleeson has returned to Dublin to recuperate after picking up a nasty head injury after a reserve team game between Wolves and Coventry last week . . .

LONGFORD striker David Freeman could be forced to quit football after being diagnosed with heart problems following recent hospital tests . . .

SHAY Given’s Newcastle future is under threat after the club were again linked with Bolton Wanderers goalkeeper Jussi Jaas-kelainen . . .

ANTHONY Stokes is back in the Ireland under-21 squad for a friendly away to Sweden on Friday, October 12, and the Euro qualifier against England at Turner’s Cross.

Hurling Nods

ALL-Ireland champions Kilkenny dominate the nominations for the 2007 All-Star awards with Limerick and Waterford players also featuring prominently. The GAA All Star hurling nominees for 2007 are:

Goalkeepers: Damien Fitzhenry (Wexford), Brian Murray (Limerick), Donal Og Cusack (Cork).

Full-backs: Michael Kavanagh (Kilkenny), Noel Hickey (Kilkenny), Jackie Tyrrell (Kilkenny), Seamus Hickey (Limerick), Stephen Lucey (Limerick), Damien Reale (Limerick), Declan Fanning (Tipperary), Aidan Kearney (Waterford), Keith Rossiter (Wexford).

Half-backs: Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny), Tony Browne (Waterford), Ken McGrath (Waterford), Mark Foley (Limerick), Brian Geary (Limerick), Eamon Corcoran (Tipperary), Conor O’Mahoney (Tipperary), Sean Og O’hAilpin (Cork), John Lee (Galway).

Midfield: Michael Walsh (Waterford), James Fitzpatrick (Kilkenny), Derek Lyng (Kilkenny), Tom Kenny (Cork), Jerry O’Connor (Cork), Donal O’Grady (Limerick).

Half-forwards: Ollie Moran (Limerick), Mike Fitzgerald (Limerick), Eoin Larkin (Kilkenny), Martin Comerford (Kilkenny), Stephen Molumphy (Waterford), Dan Shanahan (Waterford), Alan Kerins (Galway), Ben O’Connor (Cork), James Young (Laois).

Full-forwards: Andrew O’Shaughnessy (Limerick), Willie O’Dwyer (Kilkenny), Eddie Brennan (Kilkenny), Henry Shefflin (Kilkenny), Eoin McGrath (Waterford), Seamus Prendergast (Waterford), John Mullane (Waterford), Neil Ronan (Cork), Kieran Murphy (Cork).

Football Nods

KERRY have 10 players nominated for the 2007 Vodafone GAA All Star Awards after winning another All-Ireland this year. The county breakdown is: Kerry (10), Dublin (7), Cork (6), Meath (6), Monaghan (4), Tyrone (3), Derry (3), Sligo (2), Galway (1), Donegal (1), Louth (1), Kildare (1).

Goalkeepers: Stephen Cluxton (Dublin), Brendan Murphy (Meath), Diarmuid Murphy (Kerry).

Full-backs: Marc O’Se (Kerry), Kevin McCloy (Derry), Graham Canty (Cork), Darren Fay (Meath), David Henry (Dublin), Conor Gormley (Tyrone), Ross Donovan (Sligo), Dessie Mone (Monaghan), Karl Lacey (Donegal).

Half-backs: Tomas O’Se (Kerry), Aidan O Mahony (Kerry), Killian Young (Kerry), Barry Cahill (Dublin), Michael McNamara (Sligo), Noel O’Leary (Cork), Gary McQuaid (Monaghan), Damien Freeman (Monaghan), Caoimhin King (Meath).

Midfield: Ciaran Whelan (Dublin), Darragh O’Se (Kerry), Nicholas Murphy (Cork), Fergal Doherty (Derry), Sean Cavanagh (Tyrone), Paddy Keenan (Louth).

Half-forwards: Declan O’Sullivan (Kerry), Paul Galvin (Kerry), Alan Brogan (Dublin), Bernard Brogan (Dublin), Anthony Moyles (Meath), Stephen Bray (Meath), Raymond Mulgrew (Tyrone), John Doyle (Kildare), Nicky Joyce (Galway).

Full-forwards: Colm Cooper (Kerry), Kieran Donaghy (Kerry), Thomas Freeman (Monaghan), Paddy Bradley (Derry), Donncha O’Connor (Cork), James Masters (Cork), Michael Cussen (Cork), Graham Geraghty (Meath), Mark Vaughan (Dublin).

New Structure

THE 2008 All-Ireland SHC will feature a new structure, with the abolition of the round robin system in a move that will allow the Munster and Leinster champions to go straight through to the semifinals.

The new format will feature a restructured qualifier system in four phases, with Galway and Antrim pre-determined to meet in the opening phase.

In the next series the first phrase loser will face a team defeated in the first round of the Munster championship while the winner will meet a defeated team from Leinster. Both Galway and Antrim have reacted angrily to the change which was carried by a huge margin at the Special Congress in Croke Park last Saturday.

Central Council, meanwhile, is to keep faith with the current National Hurling League set-up for at least one more year with two groups of six teams in Division One including Offaly.

GAA Shorts

TRIBUTES have poured in from all across the country after the sudden death of former Dublin star Mick Holden at just 52 years of age last week. Team-mate and Dublin goalkeeper John O’Leary said, “Mick could be a very funny guy and it didn’t matter how tense things would become, he always managed a joke. He gave the impression of not taking himself or his football too seriously but there wasn’t a more competitive player in our dressingroom.” . . .

TYRONE boss Mickey Harte has welcomed Brian McGuigan’s return to training after a series of injuries. Captain Brian Dooher is awaiting news on his progress after surgery to overcome a groin injury while Stephen O’Neill is out for six months after an operation on a knee injury . . .

FORMER Armagh captain Kieran McGeeney has been confirmed as the new manager of the Kildare football team in succession to John Crofton –- and he could ask Meath legend Sean Boylan to join his backroom team in an advisory role . . .

PAUL Bealin has quit as manager of the Wexford football team after just two years in charge. “It was a great experience for me,” said Bealin . . .

THE Kilkenny County team and the James Stephens club, reigning All-Ireland club champions, will be without McCarthy Cup winner Eoin Larkin until April as he is about to embark on a tour of duty in Kosovo with the Irish Army . . .

THE 2007 Railway Cups will be played under lights at Croke Park later this month in a bid to save the inter-provincial football and hurling series.

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