Under-21 International Preview: The defeat in Albania may have just about put paid to the Ireland under-21s' chances of qualifying for next year's European finals, but manager Don Givens is hoping that his side can build on Monday's much improved performance in Cork against Germany this evening at Dalymount Park, where the home side will be looking to gain revenge the embarrassing defeat suffered in Tirana.
Givens concedes that his team would have to win all four of their remaining games in order to play themselves back into contention for qualification and, though he doesn't say it, nothing in the formbook suggests that such a turnaround is remotely likely.
"Against the Germans," he does says, however, "I thought we were moving in a better direction. It's a slightly changed group of players again and a lot of them, maybe 50 per cent, will be eligible for the next campaign too so these games are a good opportunity for us to start building for the future again."
Givens, who has slight injury concerns over defender John Thompson and midfielder Seán Thorntan, hopes to be able to field a team
virtually unchanged from the one that started against the Germans in Cork where several players, including Stephen Kelly of Tottenham and Sunderland's Stephen Capper were handed their debuts.
Barring a last-minute mishap, Cork City's John O'Flynn is sure to start again with the manager expressing considerable satisfaction with the striker's performance at Turner's Cross. "He did very well," he says, "and now that he's in there it's going to take somebody else to come along and dislodge him."
In midfield, Liam Miller also looks certain to start, with Givens remarking, in the wake of Monday's performance, that the Celtic midfielder has all the attributes needed to follow recent under-21 graduates like John O'Shea, Gary Doherty and Colin Healy into the Republic's senior ranks.
"If he sorts himself out at club level I have no doubt that he can go on and do very well for himself," says the manager. "I know Martin O'Neill likes him, but he just doesn't seem to like him enough to put him in the first team and so Liam maybe has to be strong enough to engineer something for himself at this stage rather than wasting any more of his time in the reserves."
Meanwhile, the decision to switch this evening's game from Longford to Dalymount Park was taken after officials at Flancare Park conceded that the pitch would not recover sufficiently from this week's heavy rain to allow it to go ahead.
Givens yesterday appealed for supporters to come out for the match and the FAI have said that all under-16s will be admitted free with adults paying €10 into the Jody stand and €5 into any other part of the ground.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (Probable): Stack (Arsenal); Kelly (Tottenham), Cryan (Sheffield Utd), Thompson (Nottingham Forest), Capper (Sunderland); Butler (Sunderland), Miller (Celtic), Thornton (Sunderland), Reid (Nottingham Forest); Barrett (Coventry City), O'Flynn (Cork City).
