Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Alan Quinn is Brian Kerr's only doubt for tomorrow's UEFA Youth Championships final against Germany in Larnaca. The Republic of Ireland under18s will be attempting to complete a remarkable Irish double, the under-16s having already won a European title in Scotland earlier this year.
Kerr remained confident that he would have everybody available to him for selection, but team doctor Ronan O'Callaghan sounded less certain yesterday. He rated Quinn's chances of recovering from ankle ligament damage as no more than fifty-fifty, while he was far more positive about Richard Dunne, who was also on crutches after twisting his ankle in the 3-0 win over Cyprus on Thursday night.
Kerr will wait until tomorrow afternoon to name his line-up for the final, but no more than a couple of places are in dispute after a series of fine individual performances helped Ireland to top Group B ahead of Croatia and England on goal difference.
Robbie Keane and Liam George are certain to partner each other up front again, Alex O'Reilly should retain his place in goal, while defenders Dunne, Thomas Heary and Keith Doyle all look certain to start. In midfield, Barry Quinn and Ger Crossley have been central figures in Ireland's success so far and will surely start again, leaving two midfield and one central defensive places to be decided.
Jason Gavin's form since coming on during the second half of the game against England has been superb and he may well keep Gary Doherty on the bench for the start of tomorrow evening's game, while Ronnie O'Brien's greater physical strength may just give him an advantage over rival winger Richie Partridge.
In central midfield, Stephen McPhail looks likely to start again with Alan Quinn, even if he does recover from the knock he took on Thursday, having to settle for a place on the bench. Kerr's selection will not be an easy one, however, and he will be influenced by his impressions of the Germans, who he will spend some time watching on video today.
Germany scored big wins over Spain and Lithuania in their group A games and Irish team official Gerry Smith, who watched their defeat by Portugal on Thursday night, said yesterday that he had been impressed by a number of their players.
"Their central midfielders, Christian Timm and Sebastian Deisler, look very good. In the second half, when they were already 2-0 behind, they were the pair that really made a go of salvaging the game, while their sweeper, Fabian Ernst, was good too, covering well for the players in front of him, but getting in front of the defence as well and setting up the play from the centre of the pitch."
Having yet to study them in any sort of detail and not come up against them in recent years, Kerr was reluctant to express a view on the quality of the opposition. Asked about his feelings on coming up against opposite number, Rainer Bonhof, a man who scored nine goals in 53 senior appearances for West Germany, he was scathing of his rival's credentials.
"Yeah, he did all right. But did he ever win a Hammond Cup in division two of the Leinster Senior League? I don't think so. Well, I was there with CYM when we won the final out in TEK's ground 2-0 on a Friday night, so, what have I got to fear from Rainer Bonhof."
More seriously, Kerr, whose side moved to a new hotel in Larnaca yesterday afternoon, paid tribute to his players for their efforts over the past week or so.
"Looking at last night's results you'd think that Croatia got us to this final, but the reality is that we got ourselves there. We got the most goals in the group, conceded the fewest and played the best football.
"I said before I came here that any one of six teams could win this tournament and as it happens all six of those countries finished level on points. At the end of the day, our lads have been superb and I have no doubt that we deserve to be the ones going on to the final on Sunday.
"To get to two European finals is dream stuff. We hadn't been to a European semi-final since Russia in 1984, so this is an amazing success story, but then this is a very good group of players."
