Striker David Connolly will make his first Republic of Ireland start in nearly a year in the World Cup qualifier against Cyprus tomorrow night to celebrate the revival of his roller-coaster career with Dutch giants Feyenoord. And Shay Given's recall to the qualifying campaign in place of out-of-favour Blackburn goalkeeper Alan Kelly has also been confirmed.
But manager Mick McCarthy's decision to delay naming the rest of his line-up until after a final training session in the GSP Stadium in Nicosia tonight probably indicates a big disappointment on the way for centre-back Richard Dunne. Dunne has been an outstanding success in the Republic's opening three qualifiers in Holland, Portugal and at home to Estonia, confounding critics of his surprise selection in a run of matches that have yielded five points.
He also resurrected his Premiership career with a £2.5m move from Everton to Manchester City but the 21-year-old, who has gained something of a bad-boy reputation off the field, is now under threat for his Ireland place with the return to fitness of Wimbledon's Kenny Cunningham and Leeds defender Gary Kelly.
McCarthy's official line is that he wants to see how all his players perform in a final training session before he names his team. But he admitted: "The centre-half position is the one I'm finding the most."
It is a happy return, though, for striker Connolly as replacement for injured Sunderland veteran Niall Quinn. "It won't be easy for me to step into his big shoes - and not just because mine are a fair bit smaller," said Connolly. At just 5ft 7ins Connolly, 23, will have to offer the Republic a far different attacking option to the one usually provided by 6ft 4ins target-man Quinn.
"People who say we will have to change our game completely are wrong," said McCarthy. "I don't remember us lumping the ball forward onto Niall's head very often when we drew in Holland and Portugal. We are better than that now.
"We've got Kevin Kilbane and Gary Doherty who could stand in for Niall if we have to play it long, but David is a specialist centre-forward who is in great form for a huge club and that's why I'm going with him. He will be linking up again with Robbie Keane and that can be an exciting partnership. It is always going to be difficult replacing a forward of Niall's quality but David can do it.
"Don't forget he was on the scene with us and scoring bags of goals before Robbie arrived and had such a meteoric rise, not only in the Premiership with Coventry and now Leeds but also getting a big move to Italy with Inter Milan in between. But David has kept working hard at his game and got his reward again at club level and I have every confidence in him."
Connolly, who earned his own dream move to Feyenoord from Watford after scoring seven goals in his first 11 games for Ireland two years ago, was subsequently farmed out to nursery club Excelsior when a new manager took over in Rotterdam. But yet another change of boss has brought him back into the senior fold.
"It is going well for me again in Holland," said Connolly. "I scored last Saturday and I'm feeling sharp. It is a big lift to be playing well again in front of 50,000 home crowds at such a really big club, knowing that the fans are behind you. Now I've got this opportunity for Ireland again and although I've only played with Robbie a couple of times when I had a short spell on loan at Wolves when he was there, I'm confident we can make it work."
Connolly's last Ireland start was in April 2000, a 1-0 home friendly defeat by Greece and the Willesden, north London-born striker has not started an international since the Euro 2000 play-off exit in Turkey when he deputised for the suspended Keane. Like McCarthy he predicts a tough test for the Irish tomorrow against a Cypriot side who have beaten Spain and drawn against Italy on home territory in the last three years. (PA)
Filed by Seán Folan
