Doherty back in the Irish fold again

International Soccer: Steve Staunton has recalled Gary Doherty to his Ireland squad for next week's European Championship qualifier in Germany. The 26-year-old, who had appeared to be entirely out of favour with the new manager, is included in a panel of 23 players that, for the moment at least, has a reassuringly familiar look about it.

As expected, Shay Given, Damien Duff, Richard Dunne and Robbie Keane are all included, having come through games for their clubs at the weekend. And Jonathan Douglas, only drafted into the panel for the Dutch game after initially having been left out, has played his way on to the plane for Germany.

More surprising is the inclusion of young Newcastle United winger Alan O'Brien, who made his debut against The Netherlands and keeps his place in the squad, ostensibly at the expense of Andy Reid.

Doherty's return is a clear attempt by Staunton to broaden his options in defence, an area where he was left looking desperately short by the loss of Richard Dunne last week. The Manchester City defender came through Sunday's encounter with Chelsea without any serious problems and so looks likely to be available for the Germany game. Doherty - who, the manager says, is considered to be "ahead of Paddy McCarthy at this stage" - will add cover in a key area.

He reiterated his preference for playing John O'Shea in midfield but conceded the Waterfordman's versatility meant he was an obvious candidate to fill in elsewhere, as he did last Wednesday.

Indeed, the 25-year-old might yet find himself filling in at left back in Stuttgart, where Staunton will be without the injured Ian Harte.

Staunton could opt to start with Kevin Kilbane there or, as he did last week, with Steve Finnan, but on the evidence of the hammering by The Netherlands the Everton midfielder is a risk, and there must be a temptation to play the Liverpool defender where he is at his best, on the other side of the back four.

"I've had a good talk with Steve," said Staunton of the situation yesterday, "and there won't be any problem with him no matter what I ask him to do."

Finnan didn't play for Liverpool at the weekend, something Staunton reckoned was probably down to tactical considerations. But there were encouraging signs elsewhere, Duff, Kevin Doyle and Paddy Kenny among the Ireland players to have done well on the first weekend of the Premiership.

Douglas, said Staunton, had been "brilliant" against the Dutch after having been "unlucky" not to make the original squad. Certainly the 24-year-old made a positive impact in the second half.

Newcastle's O'Brien also performed creditably on his debut at this level, but it is hard to see how he did enough to displace the more established Reid from the squad ahead of such an important game.

Staunton said yesterday Reid's omission was based on his relative lack of fitness as a result of a severely disrupted pre-season. The winger, he said, "needs to get some games". But having come on after 70 minutes for Charlton at the weekend, Reid looks much more likely to feature in his new club's two games over the coming week than O'Brien, who after a couple of pre-season appearances failed even to make the bench for Saturday's defeat of Wigan Athletic.

The rest of the Ireland squad is much as expected, Stephen Ireland returning and Aiden McGeady and Liam Miller having retained their places.

Lee Carsley is overlooked, but only after, Staunton suggested, telling the manager he would prefer to be called up only if he stands a good chance of playing.

The manager expressed satisfaction with the players available to him but acknowledged that the obvious lack of depth within Ireland's pool of senior players would mean a nervous week or so until he gets to see who is actually fit to travel.

"I have full confidence in the squad," he said, "that we can achieve a whole lot more with the players we have. The hope now is that they all get a couple of games under their belts to sharpen them up but that none of them gets injured. I worry about that all the time because you could lose any one of them at any stage and, as last week showed, we can't afford to be without many of the senior lads. Obviously we're not blessed with the depth that the Dutch have, so we just have to do our best."

The effort required of his men during the early stages of the Germany game will, he believes, be particularly intense. Ireland's opponents, he says, are likely to try to establish a decisive advantage over the opening quarter of Saturday week's encounter.

"They try to win the game in the first 10 to 15 minutes," he remarked. "So we're going to have to be strong and brave because they come at you very quickly and we need to be ready for them."