Familiar Irish selection

Mick McCarthy yesterday kept faith with the squad he brought to Dublin at the start of February when he named as close as possible to an unchanged panel for next week's visit of Denmark.

While Richard Sadlier and Alan Kelly missing out this time through injury, none of the players that featured against the Russians have been dropped. Back in, meanwhile, are Charlton Athletic midfielder Mark Kinsella who is back to full fitness, David Connolly of Wimbledon who has also returned to first-team action after a lay off during the past month and Nicky Colgan of Hibernian who is drafted as a replacement for the absent Kelly.

Sadlier's hopes of making the trip to Japan now look slim at best, with the big Millwall striker sidelined again by a recurrence of a previous injury problem. He is expected to see a specialist today when he will find out when he will be in a position to play for his club again.

McCarthy's decision to pass up the chance of having a look at any other players appears to seal the fate of the likes of Rory Delap, Robert Ryan and Stephen McPhail, all of whom now look to be entirely dependent on others falling prey to injury if they are to earn a place on the plane to the far east.

While Steve Carr's chances of recovering from a knee injury by the middle of May remain a matter for speculation, Gary Doherty appears to have been unfortunate in that this game has come a little too soon for him. The Spurs player has just returned to full training after a lengthy lay-off with a broken leg and took part in last week's reserve game against Charlton without any problems.

The return of Connolly for Sadlier is one of two straight swaps made by McCarthy with the as yet uncapped Colgan's inclusion for Kelly also representing a simple case of like for like.

The return of Kinsella means that the manager has called up 25 players for the game, although one or two of those may be lost after the weekend's programme of games in Britain.

Danish coach Morten Olsen, meanwhile, has included Chelsea midfielder Jesper Gronkjaer in his 18-man squad for the trip to Dublin.

Olsen is without three of his stronger midfield players. Milan's Thomas Helveg, Martin Jorgensen of Udinese and Charlton's Claus Jensen are all omitted due to injury while another regular member of Denmark's international squads, Thomas Gravesen of Everton, has been overlooked on this occasion.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Given (Newcastle), Kiely (Charlton), Colgan (Hibernian), Staunton (Aston Villa), Harte (Leeds), Dunne (Manchester City), Breen (Coventry), O'Brien (Newcastle), G Kelly (Leeds), Cunningham (Wimbledon), Roy Keane (Manchester United), Carsley (Everton), McAteer (Sunderland), Holland (Ipswich), Kilbane (Sunderland), Kinsella (Charlton), Finnan (Fulham), Kennedy (Wolves), Reid (Millwall), Healy (Coventry), Quinn (Sunderland), Robbie Keane (Leeds), Morrison (Crystal Palace), Duff (Blackburn), Connolly (Wimbledon).