Under-21s lose out as Kerr gives youths a chance

Don Givens'hopes of bringing his strongest under-21 squad to Georgia and Albania were scuppered yesterday when Brian Kerr unveiled the 20-man panel that will represent Ireland at next month's World Youth Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Sean Thornton, Stephen Brennan, Jonathan Daly and Stephen Paisley have all been included in the travelling party even though they would have been brought to the forthcoming under-21 European qualifiers.

But Kerr, who selected the world cup squad which will be managed at the tournament by Gerry Smith with John McDonnell, insisted FAI policy dictated the finals tournament would receive priority and made it clear there had never been much of a choice to be made.

"The association's policy has been that we put out our best team when we qualify for finals tournaments. That was the case in 1997 and again in '99 when there was a bit of a question mark over whether Robbie (Keane) or Damien Duff would be coming to Nigeria.

"But, in any case, the lads involved have played 33 games between them to get to this world cup and who knows if they will ever get the chance to play at a world cup again. I don't think it would be right to say to these lads that they're not going; they'll have another two years to play under-21 games."

Four years ago Kerr became embroiled in disputes with a number of clubs, most notably Leeds, over the availability of players during the build up to Nigeria and he admitted yesterday it was possible there would again be problems.

"The rules are clear, though," he said. "We are entitled to the players two weeks before the first game and I hope the clubs respect that. But who knows, maybe it will all start off today when word of the squad gets around."

The availability of Thornton, whose club is deep in relegation trouble, could prove a particular bone of contention in the wake of the midfielder having recently broken into the first team.

"It's possible," said Kerr, "but then he didn't play on Saturday, wasn't even on the bench and a couple of months ago they were loaning him out to Burnley. All I can say is that until recently Howard Wilkinson was an international manager and I would hope that he will respect Gerry's position now."

The 20-man squad, meanwhile, contains few surprises, with the majority of those who travelled to Norway for last summer's European Championships again included.

There are no places, however, for Ian Simpenza, Keith Gilroy or Daryl McMahon. Bray's Eamon Zayed and John Fitzgerald of Blackburn Rovers retain their places in the squad after performing strongly in the recent friendly tournament in Abu Dhabi. Liverpool's Darren Potter and Glen Whelan of Manchester City are also included, as is another City player, highly rated Dubliner Willo Flood, who will travel despite being two years younger than the majority of the squad.

Ireland's first game will be against Saudi Arabia on March 27th with the team then playing the Ivory Coast on the 30th and Mexico another three days later. All of the games will take place in Al-Ain.

Before leaving for the tournament, it was confirmed yesterday the team will play Egypt, who beat the Ivory Coast 4-3 in the final of the recent African Youth Championships. The game will take place on Saturday, March 15th, venue to be confirmed.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U-20 SQUAD: Murphy (Manchester City), Henderson (Aston Villa), Brennan (Newcastle Utd), Rossiter (Sunderland), Capper (Sunderland), Paisley (Manchester City), McCarthy (Manchester City), Kelly (Tottenham), Fitzgerald (Blackburn Rovers), Ward (Wolves), Foley (Liverpool), Thornton (Sunderland), Potter (Liverpool), Whelan (Manchester City), Flood (Manchester City), Deane (Charlton Ath), Kearney (Nottingham Forest), Daly (Stockport), Elliott (Manchester City), Zayed (Bray Wanderers).