Ireland dimension adds spice to derby

HAVING KICKED off his career in England with Wolves, Keith Andrews knows all about the rivalry between his old employers and his new club, West Brom.

It’s unlikely then that any of the Republic of Ireland team-mates who play their football at Molineux will have read anything personal into the Dubliner’s comments this week that he would be happy to play a part in sending Mick McCarthy’s side down when the sides meet in the Black Country derby this Sunday.

Stephen Ward, for one, seems entertained by the notion of the tie having an even greater Irish element to it with the Andrews’ inclusion in the West Brom squad edging the number of would-be Ireland squad members Giovanni Trapattoni could potentially cast an eye over in one go ever closer to double figures.

“There should be some good banter before and after the game on Sunday,” says the left back, “because it’s not just us who have so many Irish internationals now. I’ve known Keith for a long while because we grew up in neighbouring areas in Dublin and I think we’re being lined up by Ireland as room-mates but they also have Shane Long and Simon Cox, as well as Keith, plus Steven Reid and Dean Kiely, who played a few years ago.

“But the big thing is the game itself,” he adds. “I love this fixture – the supporters make it very special – and you’re always aware of the extra spice in the build-up.”

Given the home side’s still highly-precarious position fractionally above the relegation zone in the wake of their weekend win at Loftus Road and West Brom’s steadily diminishing comfort zone, there is considerably more than just local pride at stake too with both camps hoping to scramble a little closer to safety at the expense of their rivals.

“Being out of the relegation zone has lifted everyone here, although we know it is only one step,” says Ward. “I think a few people would have been thinking it was three from four to go down if we had lost on Saturday.

“QPR would have been six points ahead of us if they’d won and that would have been quite a gap.

“We have them at our side now, though, after beating them and, if we can do the same to Albion, we will be only two points behind them.”

Having scored the winner in London against QPR, Kevin Doyle will be in contention to start this weekend while Stephen Hunt will be anxious to get the nod from McCarthy, particularly if Trapattoni does drop by.

Both he and Andrews were unused substitutes at the weekend but the latter should get to make his West Brom debut against a club where, he admits, he contributed much to his own downfall.

“Whether my lifestyle was wrong, or it was the people I was knocking around with, I don’t know. But it was just so easy for me because I had been there for so long,” he says.

“It’s no secret that I was dying to get out of Wolves at that stage because I didn’t get the football I needed and it was only when I went to MK Dons that the penny dropped and I realised I had to do things right and take my destiny into my own hands rather than leaving it up to other people.

“It’s fair to say that my whole life changed. It was the kick up the backside I needed. I changed my diet and my lifestyle.

“I wouldn’t say I needed to change the people I was knocking around with because I think I’ve got good family and friends. But I just wasn’t being as professional as I could be.”

Meanwhile, the FAI is awaiting word from Aiden McGeady or his club, Spartak Moscow, regarding the seriousness of an injury sustained earlier this week during a warm-weather training session in Spain. The winger is reported to have taken a knock to the shin and could be ruled out of the friendly against the Czech Republic at the end of the month. His club are due to be back in competitive action the weekend after the international break.

With Trapattoni due to name his squad on Friday in Waterford, the FAI have not at this stage, however, been told that the player will be not be available for the game.

The FAI, meanwhile, have confirmed the national team’s final game before touching down in Poland for the European Championships will be against Hungary in Budapest on June 4th.