Kennedy joins the injury list

Another day, another player gone, another late arrival by Roy Keane. Ah yes, it was business as usual in the Ireland camp yesterday where Mick McCarthy spent his lunchtime chatting with the press and looking like he was enjoying it no more than he usually does.

While the Dutch journalists received assurances from the Ireland boss that his team would be aiming to go one better than in Amsterdam 12 months ago by beating the Dutch this Saturday, he gave little away to the rest of us with regard to his options ahead of such an important game.

Mark Kennedy is out, that much is certain after the 25 year-old hauled his injured groin over to Dublin yesterday morning and was promptly sent back to England by the Ireland manager.

Roy Keane is in, insists McCarthy, despite the fact that the Manchester United skipper once again delayed his arrival in Dublin by a day, ostensibly to get further treatment on a hip injury he is said to have picked up at Villa park on Sunday.

And Ian Harte's ankle will be given a good looking over this morning when the Leeds United left back is scheduled to join up with the rest of the squad after some intensive treatment on his ankle back at Elland Road.

"I don't know how he is until then," admitted McCarthy yesterday, "and I've considered my options in case he's not right but all I'll say is that someone will have to play there."

He went on to rule Steve Staunton out of the running, observing that, "you'd be shifting two positions to fix one," and mention Gary Kelly and Steve Finnan as the prime candidates. Neither, of course, is a naturally left-sided player.

While an injury has sparked the speculation about the left back berth, it is the fitness of all of McCarthy's potential starters up front that was causing more persistent questioning yesterday, with Niall Quinn, Robbie Keane and Damien Duff all in the reckoning to start on Saturday.

"Obviously I can't accommodate all three of them within a 4-4-2 unless I play Duffer on one of the wings.

But," he added, echoing the glowing reviews he has given the Blackburn player's previous couple of outings up front for Ireland, "he's offered us something down the middle in the last couple of games that I don't remember an Ireland team having in quite a while, the ability to beat people."

With Quinn an integral part of Ireland's game plan for so long and Robbie Keane looking so much better than at the start of the summer, opting to play the winger up front would represent an uncharacteristic gamble for McCarthy but one that, if yesterday is anything to go on, he is seriously contemplating taking.

Asked by the Dutch whether he might be tempted to look for no more than the draw the Republic needs to stay on course for the play-off, McCarthy insisted that when Louis van Gaal's side took the field this weekend they would find themselves up against a side resolutely determined to win.

"You've got very good players and we'll have to play well to win. But we do play well at this time of year and we've played well at Lansdowne Road so we won't look to change anything.

"I only went out to draw a game once and but for Suker in the 95th minute it would have worked.

I wouldn't try it at home, though, it's not in our nature so make no mistake about it we'll play for the win. Anything else would be foolish against a side as good as the Dutch."

Richard Dunne, for one, agreed. "We couldn't just sit back and look for the draw," said the man who kept Patrick Kluivert quiet for so long in last year's game. If we did they'd put us under all sorts of pressure and it we'd be bound to concede a goal."

At club level, Dunne finds himself adjusting to life both in the first division and under Kevin Keegan at present, neither of which, it seems, is as bad as might have been feared.

While Manchester City "struggled in every game last year," he said yesterday, "we go out hoping to win every time now." The initial fear, meanwhile, that he might not fit into Keegan's plans has also passed for the moment although the fact that the team has taken an early lead in the division while conceding two goals in three of their first four games suggests the new manager still sets as much store by defending as he did during those crazy days at St James's Park.

Dunne, though, is not complaining about his club situation having settled into his new role as the right-sided man alongside Steve Howey and Stuart Pearce in a three man defence.

And life in the first division provided all the more reason for him to relish the days when he gets the chance to put himself up against some of the very best in the world.

"Every game throws up a couple of things that you learn from but obviously this sort of game is the sort of experience that you enjoy most of all. You can't just go into a game and say "I marked Kluivert before so I know what that's about. It's very different every time and it's going to be a huge challenge."