Dunne a confirmed starter in defence

Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr is hoping their is no place like home as his team embarks on a run of four internationals…

Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr is hoping their is no place like home as his team embarks on a run of four internationals at Lansdowne Road.

Tomorrow night's friendly with Norway is followed by European Championship qualifiers against Albania and Georgia in June and Russia in September, and Kerr has promised his Irish team will be going on the attack in front of their own fans.

Ireland have an impressive record in competitive games at Lansdowne Road and Kerr is hoping to start the first of his reign in charge with a win.

"We have just had three away games so I am delighted we are playing at home," said Kerr. "I realise there is extra pressure and expectancy will be high, but it will be a proud night.

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"The whole approach when we are at home is to be more attacking and more attack-minded than in our last two games. We need to be patient and we can't be reckless, but I want us to be a strong attacking force like the Irish team has been at Lansdowne Road for many a year now."

Kerr will field an experienced team but is also determined to use the friendly for experimental purposes, although his squad is down to 20 including three goalkeepers.

He is forced to make at least two changes to his regular line-up as skipper Kenny Cunningham (groin) has returned to Birmingham City and fellow defender John O'Shea (knee) has gone back to Manchester United.

Manchester City's Richard Dunne has been told he will start in the centre of defence, while Matt Holland of Ipswich will captain the team after recovering from some general bumps and bruises.

Celtic goalkeeper Nicky Colgan has also been promised a "decent spell" on the pitch as he is now the deputy to Newcastle's Shay Given - who will earn his 50th cap - following the surprise retirement from international football last week of Charlton's Dean Kiely.

"It's a young team, a changing team that needs help," said Kerr. "Some of the older soldiers have moved on so they need encouragement and they need support and that is what the crowd should be there for.

"I am not going to swap players willy-nilly or change the whole team at half time, but I intend to use a reasonable number of players. We are missing four or five who could be in the starting 11 so it's a good opportunity to use some of the players who are coming through."

PA