Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr may, it seems, have more left wingers in his entourage these days than the Socialist Workers' Party could hope to muster for a shindig at Shannon but when it comes to truly effective strikers the political activists, even in these days of industrial peace and partnership, still win the numbers game hands down.

Kerr isn't the first in his position to try to tackle the problem by converting one of the former into a striker. It was probably the most disappointing aspect of his evening at Lansdowne Road on Wednesday that, for all the good things they did together up front, Damien Duff and Clinton Morrison couldn't make more of the chances that came their way to add to an early Andy Reid goal that had more than a hint of good fortune about it.

In the circumstances Kerr will welcome the news from White Hart Lane yesterday that Robbie Keane reckons he is just two weeks away from playing again.

The striker, Ireland's only really consistent goalscorer of the past couple of years, had originally been thought to be facing a lay-off of six weeks or more in the aftermath of a challenge during a pre-season friendly with Rangers that left him with ankle ligament damage.

Yesterday, however, the Tottenham striker said he felt he was well ahead of schedule in terms of his return and that, having already resumed light training, he believed he could be back playing within a fortnight.

"The treatment I've been getting has been good and I usually come back a bit quicker than expected," said Keane. "I'm lucky enough to have been running and kicking a ball - normally when you've had ligament damage, kicking a ball is the hardest.

"I should soon start twisting and turning and, hopefully, I'll be back in a couple of weeks," he continued. "There is no pain at all, it just gets a bit stiff until I start running and then everything is fine. It is a lot better than I expected it to be when it first happened. I thought it was going to be a lot worse. I'm pleased with how things are going."

From Kerr's point of view the timing of Keane's comeback is still extremely tight as Tottenham's last game before the next international break, the home match with Birmingham City, is just eight days away and it seems highly improbable at this stage the striker will be involved in that. Assuming he is forced to sit the game out the Ireland manager will be left in the position of seeking the release of a player who has not featured for his club since incurring a serious injury.

That is an unpromising scenario but Tottenham coach and Ireland assistant manager Chris Hughton had not this week discounted the possibility of the 24-year-old being involved in at least one of the Irish games and Keane's record in this sort of scenario suggests he will make every effort to make himself available.

His presence, even if only initially on the bench, would be a significant boost to an Irish side who continue to generate too few goals up front. Morrison's confidence around the area has taken something of a battering in recent games and Kerr would surely have loved to see the Birmingham City striker end an almost year-long run without an international goal, against the Bulgarians.

The Ireland manager has persisted with the player through that time in the clear belief he is the best option available to him and it would be a brave decision to replace him now. The hope now will be that, even without Keane, a strong Irish performance against Cyprus might yield a couple of goals and provide momentum ahead of the trip to Basel.

Elsewhere, over the past couple of days the news has been generally good for Kerr with Gary Doherty's proposed move to Norwich offering another of his players the prospect of regular first-team football after a frustrating couple of seasons at Spurs.

Though Andy O'Brien has fared well in his battle to play regularly for Newcastle United, where he is a firm favourite of manager Bobby Robson, the central defender might also be more secure in his place if Jonathan Woodgate moves to Madrid.

Perhaps most beneficial of all, though, would be a move for Reid to a Premiership side with the 22-year-old winger showing again on Wednesday he is well capable of flourishing at a top-flight club.