BRIAN KERR has yet to decide on a replacement for the suspended Neale Fenn, for tomorrow's play-off with Ghana in the World Youth Championship in Kuala Lumpur.
The game, to decide third and fourth places in the lavishly appointed Shah Alam Stadium, will act as a curtain raiser for the final in which Argentina are seeking to win the title for a third consecutive occasion, against Uruguay.
For the first time since setting down in Malaysia, three weeks and six games ago, Fenn is out of the Irish team after collecting a second yellow card in the 1-0 defeat by Argentina on Wednesday.
And it leaves Kerr with some delicate decisions to make as he seeks to avenge a controversial defeat by Ghana at the start of the first phase programme.
On his own admission, he is not exactly coming down with front line options so the loss of Fenn, who made a brief but significant breakthrough to Tottenham's first team last season, is serious.
Among the options available to him, is the promotion of Des Baker, the Shelbourne player who was summoned from the bench in a last desperate attempt to retrieve the quarter-final against the champions.
And Baker's joy may be shared by the UCD defender Aidan Lynch who, alone of the 18 players in the squad, has yet to get a run. That is due to the splendid form of Colin Hawkins and David Worrall in central defence but the indications are that Lynch, a useful rallying point for UCD last season, will be introduced at some stage of the game.
Elsewhere, there were bumps and bruises aplenty to demand the attention of the medical team of Conal Hooper and Ciaran Murray but none likely to be serious enough to blight the ambitions of young players, only too ready to report for active service after running themselves close to exhaustion in Kuching.
After a two hour air journey, the squad is now back in Kuala Lumpur, the base they used for their quarter-final against Spain and after the relative solitude of Kuching, the return to the comforts of urban life is not unwelcome.
The onset of weariness at this belated stage of the season is a problem which Kerr is only too aware of but the hope is that they can dredge enough strength to give themselves a realistic chance of settling a score or two with Ghana.
Yesterday the international press was generous in its evaluation of that brave performance against Argentina, one newspaper offering the opinion that the Irish had given the acknowledged masters in underaged football a much tougher game than Brazil.
In an apt deviation from the norm, the local Sun newspaper headlined its story "Luck of the Latins" and commended the Irish players for their exemplary spirit.
"Argentina, the defending champions, were very fortunate that luck eluded the Irish and went the way of the South Americans who were a pale shadow of the side that dumped Brazil on Sunday," it said.
It is pleasant to report that there were no wild men in Borneo on
Wednesday and that the Argentinians, so often indicted for dark strategies on the pitch in the past, were impeccably behaved at all times.
Apart from the skills of Pablo Aimar, the River Plate striker who fits many descriptions of the outstanding player of this championship, the most striking feature of their performance in Kuching was the absence of any trace of rancour.
Wednesday's 1-0 scoreline replicated the result in each of the two previous meetings of Ireland and Argentina, at senior level in 1950 and again in 1980, when Diego Maradona made his European debut at Lansdowne Road.
Most of the Argentinian journalists at a press briefing identified Thomas Morgan as the outstanding member of the Irish team, ahead of Damien Duff, Robbie Ryan, Colin Hawkins and Derek O'Connor.
How ironic then, that Morgan should be one of those returning to an uncertain future when he leaves here on Sunday, after being released by Blackburn at the end of the season.
Judged on the manner in which the Irish captain acquitted himself here, against the best in the world in his age group, it's a decision which the management team at Ewood Park, may yet have cause to regret.
The longest-running transfer story of football's close season will end early next week when Juninho finally leaves Middlesbrough for Atletico Madrid. After weeks of dragging their feet, the Spanish club have fulfilled the precondition set by Middlesbrough, delivering an official written offer to Teesside.
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