With his intentions still unclear as the rest of the Irish squad arrived in Tbilisi ahead of tomorrow's European Championship qualifier, the FAI made contingency plans to fly Robbie Keane out of Dublin this morning in the event the 22-year-old striker decides he wants to play some part in the game against Georgia.

Irish manager Brian Kerr is believed to have spoken to the Tottenham striker twice yesterday, and he is reported to have made it clear to the player that the decision on whether to travel is entirely Keane's to make.

While nothing firm seems to have been said, it seemed less likely by last night that the player would make an arduous nine-hour journey by scheduled flights to join the panel.

If Keane does make the trip, however, arrangements have been made to get him to the Georgian capital later today. The question then would be what part Kerr feels the striker could play after a traumatic week.

Kerr declined to speculate, and it is expected the situation will finally be clarified after this morning's training at his lunchtime press conference.

The Ireland manager looked relaxed about the situation as he arrived at Tbilisi airport yesterday afternoon. There was little or no fuss as the Irish party touched down, and when a handful of local media sought Kerr's opinion on how tomorrow's game would go he said he thought his side still had the ability to take away all three points, adding: "We still have a chance to get through. Switzerland and Russia are the favourites, Georgia have a chance too, but we both need to win this game. Georgia have good players, but we have too."

Andy O'Brien, meanwhile, insisted last night that he felt ready to build on his experience with Newcastle United in the Champions League should Kerr include him in his starting line-ups.

"I appreciate that the players who have been there have done a very good job and that you have to be patient sometimes, (but) I'm hoping to stake a claim, both internationally and at club level," said the former Bradford City defender.

The arrival of Jonathan Woodgate looks to have at least temporarily undermined the 23- year-old's status as an automatic choice at St James' Park, but, he says, "all I know is if I'm playing regularly for a big club I must be doing something right and at the minute I consider myself to be in a melting pot of maybe three centre halves.

"Obviously I want to be playing week in week out, but I still feel I'm building a good profile for myself and I'll do whatever it takes to push myself on."

With Woodgate ineligible for European games, O'Brien has seen quite a bit of action at the highest level of the club game and believes the experience has helped his development.

O'Brien is full of admiration for Bobby Robson, the Newcastle manager who brought him to the north east of England and has been a huge influence on him.

"He just gives you confidence. I don't know whether you saw the TV documentary on him but there were people like Figo and Ronaldo talking about him. He mentioned Laurent Blanc when we played Manchester United and mentioned that he had him at Barcelona and you realise how much Bobby Robson has achieved in football.

"I'll always be grateful to him that he saw something in me that he wanted to introduce to his team and I appreciate that I have to keep repaying the faith he's shown in me."

To date O'Brien's opportunities at international level have been limited with just six caps amassed since he made his debut late in the Estonia game almost two years ago. He still enjoys his time with the Ireland squad, he insists however, and has been impressed by Kerr in what he has seen of the new manager so far.

"He's a strong character and the training's been good. Obviously we got a good result in Scotland and what's important now is that we build on that."