INTERNATIONAL SOCCER: Though they came, for the most part, from the player himself, reports of the demise of Mark Kinsella's international career seem to have been greatly exaggerated.
This fact was underlined yesterday when Brian Kerr recalled the 31-year-old to his Republic of Ireland squad for next week's friendly against the Czech Republic.
Kinsella suggested after the defeat by Switzerland in Basel that he felt his involvement in the squad might be at an end, and then said, more explicitly, on joining West Brom from Aston Villa only a couple of months back, that revitalising his club career would be the priority for the foreseeable future.
He conceded then that his chance might not come again, but after a busy few weeks at the Hawthorns, where he has swiftly established himself as a first-team regular, the Dubliner was indeed recalled by Kerr.
He may have benefited from the coach's decision to allow his players at Sunderland and Manchester United to skip the international in order to concentrate on the following weekend's FA Cup semi-finals.
"People say stuff after matches," said Kerr of Kinsella, "but they're entitled to change their mind and I'm sure that Mark is a lot happier now that he's playing regular football again. There are very few people who enjoy playing for Ireland as much as Mark, he's very committed, and I've seen him a couple of times recently and he's been doing very well."
Kerr said he had taken the decision to release John O'Shea, Gary Breen and Jason McAteer from the panel of 22 players after talking to Alex Ferguson and Mick McCarthy. Neither manager specifically requested the concession, he said, "but I thought about it afterwards and decided it was the right thing to do".
For Sunderland, he said, the prospect of playing in their first FA Cup final since the 1992 season would be hugely exciting. "They're big games for both clubs," he added, "and I took the decision against the background of the very strong co-operation I have received since I took over in the job."
Aside from those two clubs' players, Kerr is without Colin Healy, Liam Miller and Steven Reid for next week's match. Back, however, are Nicky Colgan and Stephen McPhail, while Kevin Kilbane, whose participation had been in doubt, is now expected to travel to Dublin for the game after his wife gave birth to a baby girl at the weekend.
Kilbane's performance in the Brazilian game has, Kerr suggested, made him a strong contender for a central midfield role. "I spoke to David Moyes about Kevin and he was saying how well he has been playing in there for him. Now, they use him as one of three, and for us it's one of two, but either way he looks well suited to it. We'll have another look at that all right."
Despite problems that kept them out of their club sides at the weekend, Steve Finnan and David Connolly are in the squad. Finnan seems likely to be fit to join up with the squad after initially indicating to Kerr last week that he was in line to feature in the Wolves game on Saturday. Connolly's position, however, is less certain, and the Ireland manager said he was awaiting word from the club on the nature of the striker's injury and whether it will prevent him from coming to Dublin.
"We've called up 22," he said, "which is a lot for a friendly, so we'll see how it goes before we start worrying about drafting anymore in."
The Ireland manager went on to confirm that the FAI is still in discussions over another "one or two games" to be played between the home game against Romania on May 27th and the visit to Amsterdam nine days later.
Milan Baros, meanwhile, has been recalled to the Czech squad for next week's game after recovering from a broken ankle. Monaco midfielder Jaroslav Plasil wins his first call-up, but Petr Cech, the Rennes goalkeeper who will join Chelsea during the summer, and Dortmund playmaker Tomas Rosicky miss the visit to Lansdowne Road through injury.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND SQUAD: Given (Newcastle United), Colgan (Hibernian), Kenny (Sheffield United); Carr, Doherty (both Spurs), Cunningham (Birmingham City), Dunne (Manchester City), Finnan (Liverpool), Harte (Leeds United), O'Brien (Newcastle United); Carsley (Everton), Delap (Southampton), Duff (Chelsea), Holland (Charlton Athletic), Kilbane (Everton), Kinsella (West Bromwich Albion), McPhail (Leeds United), Reid (Nottingham Forest); Connolly (West Ham United), Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Lee (Cardiff City), Morrison (Birmingham City).
CZECH REPUBLIC SQUAD: Kinsky (Saturn Ramenskoye), Vaniak (Sigma Olomouc); Bolf (Banik Ostrava), Grygera (Ajax), Huebschman (Sparta Prague), Jankulovski (Udinese), Jiranek (Reggina), Rozehnal (Club Bruges), Ujfalusi (SV Hamburg); Galasek (Ajax), Jarosik (CSKA Moscow), Nedved (Juventus), Plasil (Monaco), Poborsky (Sparta Prague); Baros (Liverpool), Heinz (Banik Ostrava), Koller (Dortmund), Lokvenc (Kaiserslautern), Stajner (Sparta Prague).
