Cunningham takes up reins again

EURO 2004: Just over a year after one Ireland captain's knack for missing international friendlies was famously touched upon in that most notorious of rows, it was confirmed Kenny Cunningham would again lead the Republic this weekend, against Albania, despite having been absent for the matches against Scotland and Norway.

The idea that the Birmingham City defender could ever be accused of "picking and choosing" his international games is, of course, far-fetched, and, as he revealed the news, Brian Kerr said it was contingent on the Dubliner, who was repeatedly troubled by a groin strain through the second half of the season just ended, getting to Saturday without any adverse reaction to the exertions of the squad's training sessions.

Cunningham expressed concern for his place in the team a couple of weeks back when he joined in the general acclaim from within the camp for Richard Dunne's performance against Norway. Kerr, though, has repeatedly singled out the contribution of the former Wimbledon player for particular praise and the decision to stick with him as skipper comes as no surprise.

Kerr also confirmed that he expected Shay Given to be fit for Saturday's game against the Albanians, although he admitted the calf strain picked up on Sunday may now mean the Newcastle United goalkeeper will be rested when the senior team take on the under-21s behind closed doors at Tolka Rovers' ground this afternoon.

"There's no problem at all with Shay," said Kerr. "He has been given the all clear, and while I might not play him in the friendly game that is purely a precautionary measure.

"Sadly," he added, "the news is not so good for Glen Crowe. He has inflammation in a tendon behind his knee and looks unlikely to be available for the Albania game. We'll review the situation later in the week with regard to the Georgian match."

Given's fitness means Nicky Colgan will have to settle for a place on the bench on Saturday, when a chance to play might have helped him in his search for a new club.

"It would be nice," said the Drogheda-born player, "in that if somebody is looking for a 'keeper they might not necessarily be looking in the Scottish league, whereas they would be more likely to notice someone in an international.

"But the fact is that I never thought that Shay's injury would keep him out. It was a minor thing, and it's natural that he was rested as soon as it happened. My job here is just to prepare as well as I can regardless, and I'm enjoying every minute of it, to be honest."

Georgia's Croatian manager, Ivo Susak, has included Rangers striker Shota Arveladze in his squad of 22 for next week's game in Dublin. The player had fallen out with the new coach and suggested he would not play for him again, but the two now appear to have sorted out their differences.

The FAI's new chief executive, Fran Rooney, meanwhile, has announced a number of initiatives aimed at livening up the atmosphere at Ireland's games. Following on from Kerr's comments ahead of his first home match that the levels of passion displayed at Lansdowne Road haven't been quite what they might be of late, Rooney confirmed there would be more music before the games, an appeal to fans to wear green and, in particular, scarves at matches, and a more coordinated attempt to generate noise from the stands during play.

"What we are trying to do is give the fans the opportunity to create something special themselves at the games," said Rooney, who will meet Tony Hamilton, Celtic's match-event coordinator, today to discuss the work the Scottish club have done in this area over the past seven or eight years.

"We are hoping that he will give us some useful insights into the way they do things over there, because I think that anyone who has been at a game in Celtic Park would agree that the atmosphere in the ground before and during the game is really something out on its own.

"That's the sort of buzz we're hoping to create around the Ireland games too. The intention is to ensure that they are fun occasions on which everybody gets behind the team and has a good time doing it."

The plans so far have been formulated after meetings with representatives of supporters' groups in recent weeks, but Rooney said that the process would be continuing and that it was hoped that structures could be established to provide the fans with a mechanism for making their opinions heard within the association.

Rooney said that in the longer term the organisation would be looking at ways of ensuring more "real supporters" had access to tickets for games, but as an interim measure 1,200 tickets returned by the Albanian and Georgian associations would be allocated to followers of eircom League sides. The hope is that these will lead the way when it comes to match-day noise generation.

A number of supporters attended yesterday's press conference at an empty, rain-soaked Lansdowne Road, but the only one to speak observed that he didn't actually like going to Ireland games because he didn't enjoy them much.

"The FAI have asked us to help out, though, and we are happy to help out," said the Shamrock Rovers fan.

If Kerr's players display the same spirit of self-sacrifice on the pitch over the coming week, Ireland should go into the summer firmly back in the hunt.

GEORGIA SQUAD: Lomaia (Lokomotiv Tbilisi), Gvaramadze (Dinamo Tbilisi), Kaladze (AC Milan), Khizanishvili (Dundee), Didava (Kocealispor), Khizaneishvili (Dinamo Tbilisi), Shashiashvili (Dinamo Tbilisi), Amisulashvili (Dinamo Tbilisi), Nemsadze (Dundee), Kobiashvili (Freiburg), Tskitishvili (Freiburg), Kinkladze (Derby County), Asatiani (Lokomotiv Moscow), Rekhviashvili (Torpedo Metalurg), Siradze (Lokomotiv Tbilisi), Burduli (Dinamo Tbilisi), Kvirkvelia (Dinamo Tbilisi), Daraselia (Dinamo Tbilisi), Arveladze (Rangers), Iashvili (Freiburg), Demetradze (Metalurg Donetsk), Aleksidze (Dinamo Tbilisi)