Ireland appears to close door on Ireland

INTERNATIONAL SOCCER: STEPHEN IRELAND has described his decision to retire from international football as, "the best decision I ever made", all but ending, it would appear, any hope the Manchester City midfielder might represent his country again in the short to medium term.

In an interview with a British Sunday newspaper, Ireland is asked about the work he undertook to improve his fitness during the close season and reveals he was looking forward to the other players at City being away on international duty as it will give him a chance to resume his hill running and martial arts training.

In this context, he says; “I’m not thinking about it (coming back for Ireland) at all. It’s just my position and it feels like the best decision I ever made.”

The comments may represent a blow to Giovanni Trapattoni’s hopes of getting the midfielder back into his Republic of Ireland squad but there are more immediate problems in the wake of the weekend’s programme of English games as Seán St Ledger picked up a knee injury that could rule him out of Saturday’s vital World Cup qualifier against Cyprus in Nicosia.

St Ledger was replaced after 81 minutes of Preston’s drawn game with Ipswich after colliding with his own goalkeeper while trying to keep Jon Stead at bay.

Afterwards his manager, Alan Irvin, said it was not yet clear if he would be able to play for the Republic next weekend. He said: “We will let their (the FAI’s) medical people know as soon as we have got any information and they’ll make the decision about whether he goes with them or not.”

The loss of St Ledger would be a setback for Trapattoni, who is already without Paul McShane and Steve Finnan, both of whom are injured.

Despite continuing his recovery from knee surgery, however, McShane did complete his more from Sunderland to Hull City over the weekend for an as yet undisclosed fee.

Most of Ireland’s other regulars came through their games at the weekend without any problems and there was especially good news from Molineux where Kevin Doyle played all 90 minutes of his side’s 1-1 draw with Hull City and had a late effort on goal cleared off the line.

“I was happy enough just to get through the 90 minutes to be honest,” he said afterwards. “It has been quite a frustrating time since I joined. That was my first 90 minutes for Wolves and my first start for them in the Premier League. It is the first time I’ve played 90 minutes for a long time.

“I hope to play a couple of games for Ireland now and then I should be up to speed. That will probably make up the difference after the pre-season games I missed.”

His club and Ireland colleague Stephen Ward, meanwhile, looks set to be sidelined for at least three weeks after undergoing knee surgery.