Celebrations short-lived for a back in the reckoning

Mary Hannigan finds Richard Dunne frustrated again by injury but happy to at least be part of the manager's plans.

"It might be a long wait for me now so I have to be patient and put it out of my mind," said a frustrated Richard Dunne last month when he was left out of the Irish squad for the games against Cyprus and Switzerland. "Brian (Kerr) has his own ways and is sticking to them. I don't think I'll be back quickly."

Fast forward a month. Dunne is sitting beside Kerr in the team hotel in Portmarnock and talking of how "glad" he is to be "involved again". He didn't, as it proved, need to be all that patient.

"He was honest about how he felt, that's all," said Kerr. "I want my players to be disappointed when they're left out. That's what I would expect. I've always been an admirer of Richard. I had him in the youth teams in Cyprus in '98 and in Nigeria in '99. I'm delighted he's around; he brings plenty to the squad. He's in really good condition - apart from the injury."

And it is that injury, to a calf muscle, that has marred Dunne's return, forcing him to sit out training this week and ultimately resulting in his return to Manchester last night for intensive treatment.

The good news is that if the leg responds to treatment as hoped he will rejoin the squad on Sunday and be back in the frame for the game against the Faroes. The frustration is nevertheless huge - and frustration has of course been something of a theme in Dunne's career to date.

He and Steve Finnan, for example, both made their senior debuts against Greece in April 2000. Dunne's caps total is now 20, his last coming against Canada in November of last year; Finnan, who himself has hardly been a regular in the team and has also been struck by injuries, has reached 31. So far, then, it's a case of what might have been for the 25-year-old defender, whose finest hours for Ireland came against Holland and Portugal in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers.

"I've been in and out for Ireland but I couldn't really become a regular when I was injured every other month," he said. "The thing now for me is to make sure I'm fit every time the internationals come around, show Brian what I can do in training and if I get a chance impress from there.

"Hopefully, if I do get a chance, I'll get my career back on track, international-wise. I think my form over the course of this new season has helped me get back into the squad."

That form prompted his club manager to speak glowingly of the player this week and although his current contract does not run out until June 2006 he is, said Kevin Keegan, likely to be offered a new deal in January. "Richard deserves to be back in the Ireland squad," said Keegan. "He has reinvented himself from what he was 12 months ago. All credit to him. He's had help from people here, but the biggest help he has had is from himself. He has got his life together now. His weight used to be a problem but that is no longer the case. I absolutely take my hat off to him as a person now," said Keegan.

"It's nice to hear that," said Dunne of Keegan's comments. "It makes a nice change from what was being said about me a couple of years back. It's good that I've got his confidence and I'm part of his team. Yeah, it's nice to hear it.

"There are so many players who've done things in the past," he said in reference to his disciplinary problems, largely drink-related, at City, "but they always seem to get a chance to change and different things are written about them than me. I just felt my past was always being dragged up, no matter what, so it's a case now of getting good publicity. I'd like to keep it that way."

At least his injury means he'll be spared the prospect of marking Thierry Henry. How do you play against him?

"You need help," he said, a response that brought a meaty chuckle from Kerr. "You need to make sure there's covering and everyone's getting involved. He's a very hard person to mark. He'd be the best I've played against. He's got so much ability; he's got a bit of everything, a bit of what everybody else has but he seems to have it all, in one package."

The Irish defence, though, will not have to face Dunne's club-mate Nicolas Anelka, still not recalled to the French squad. "When you leave a player like Nicolas out you must have a hell of a replacement for him because, although he's got the reputation of being very temperamental, he's a quality player. He'd be a threat to any defence. I don't know who they've brought in, but he must be very good."