Kilbane retains hope of being fit for final fixtures

INTERNATIONAL SOCCER:KEVIN KILBANE said yesterday he is hopeful of being fit for the games against Andorra on October 7th and Armenia on October 11th in the event Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni includes him the squad when he names it this morning.

The 34-year-old has been struggling with related back and hamstring problems since pulling out of the squad for the Slovakia and Russia games although he did initially recover sufficiently well to feature for Derby County the following weekend.

Now, he is working towards making a return for the club either against Barnsley next Tuesday or Leicester City on Saturday week although he admits his relative lack of experience of injuries down the years has left him somewhat in the dark regarding his chances of featuring ahead of the international break.

“Of course it’s a concern,” said the defender, who was talking at the launch of Italian sportswear firm Macron’s new Irish store in Santry. “But I’ve had virtually no injury problems throughout my career and when you get hamstring trouble, I can’t really gauge how long it’s going to be. Hopefully I’ll be okay, I’m genuinely hopeful I’ll be okay . . . two weeks is enough time.”

What happens at that stage for the former Everton star and the rest of Trapattoni’s squad is very much up in the air but the Irish must be positive as they aim to get six points from six and then hope that other results go their way.

“The Armenia game has thrown everything wide open,” he says. “We had a great result out in Russia. Considering how the game went, it was a fantastic team performance, defensively more than anything. Then that evening we had the fantastic news that Armenia had thrown the group wide open. The downside is, I suppose, that Armenia (October 11th), for our last game, will be coming to us wanting to win; they’ll want to finish in that runners-up spot themselves. We just have to hope that Slovakia do the business against Russia.

“You have to expect Russia to pick up four points from those two games, though. You would expect them to do that with the quality they have got. But with Slovakia winning out there at the start of the campaign it gives us hope. We have half a chance of winning our last two games to top the group but it’s a big ask.”

Kilbane’s hope, needless to say, is that he will make the squad today, regain his place in the team and then make it to next year’s finals in Poland and Ukraine with the rest of the team but he insists, even if he were to fall at the first hurdle, he would have few complaints after the run that he has had.

“Looking back I managed to play in so many great games over that time and so many poor games that we’ve had. It’s just one of those things, it was going to come to an end at some stage. So I am not losing any sleep over it. If he picks me, he picks me, I have been thinking that over the last couple of years.

“These questions have been asked of me so often. Will I be selected? Won’t I be selected? Of course I was pleased for Stephen (Ward) who came in and did very well in the game that he played in.

“We will see what happens now. If I am picked in the squad that will be a bonus, first and foremost, and if I can get into the team for the next couple of games, then brilliant.

“I won’t be getting too stressed over it whether I am picked or not because if I don’t get picked, then I don’t.

“I have had a great run and I am very happy with the games I have played.”