Kerr denies Harte's claims

SOCCER/Rep of Ireland v Portugal: Brian Kerr yesterday denied claims by Ian Harte that the pair's relationship has deteriorated to the stage that the Republic of Ireland manager has not returned one of the player's phone calls in months.

"I don't know what is happening," Harte said in an interview published in an English newspaper yesterday, "because I have tried to get in touch with Brian Kerr but he doesn't return my calls. I spoke to Chris Hughton and asked him to see if he could get Brian to give me a call and find out what the problem is but I've not heard anything.

"It's a joke and disappointing," continued the former Leeds United defender, "that, after playing 58 times (he has actually played 56 times) for my country and scoring nine goals, he can't pay me a bit of respect and give me a call."

Harte, who has been injured in recent weeks, goes on to suggest he thinks the reason he has not been picked to play for Ireland since last April's game in Poland is that Kerr felt his move to Spain was the wrong one to make. "It's like Sven Goran Eriksson saying to David Beckham or Michael Owen," he claims, "sorry, but I don't think I'll pick you if you go to Spain."

Kerr, however, maintained yesterday he has never left any calls from players unanswered and denied having expressed any disapproval of Harte's move to Levante in the Primera Liga. "I wouldn't want to get into a slagging match here and I haven't seen the newspaper but I do return calls and I expect players to return mine.

"I had no discussion about him going to Spain either way but I was happy for him that he got a move to a higher level than he thought he was going to be playing at with Leeds.

"I have a squad of players here and while Ian's done well when he's played in the past these are the lads that are in pole position at the moment."

Even without the likes of Harte, Rory Delap and Steven Reid, Kerr has an exceptionally large number of options to mull over ahead of tomorrow's game at Lansdowne Road with, of the 27-man squad he named last week, only Roy Keane having pulled out.

Newcastle United right back Stephen Carr, who was one of 19 players to train at Malahide United's ground yesterday morning, will not take part in the match after Kerr agreed to Graeme Souness's request that the player, who has only played three times since returning from a long lay-off with a knee injury, does no more than train with the Irish squad this week. Everyone else, however, is said to be fit and available for the game with the exception of Joe Murphy who was receiving treatment for a groin strain at the team hotel yesterday.

John O'Shea, meanwhile, yesterday echoed his manager's willingness to play next month's World Cup qualifier in Tel Aviv despite reported suggestions from a number of politicians that the game be postponed or moved.

"As long FIFA don't tell us that the game isn't going to go ahead I have no problems at all with going there," said the Manchester United defender who goes into tomorrow's game in especially confident mood after a couple of fine goals for his club.

"It's always nice to score," he said yesterday, "but the main thing is that the team keeps winning and so far things are going well on that front. We were behind Arsenal and now we've overtaken them; now we've got to keep on going and hope that Chelsea drop another few points. We're certainly confident in our own ability to keep up the pressure, although obviously it's in Chelsea's own hands for the moment."

The 23-year-old admitted to having particularly enjoyed last week's goal at Highbury where, he said, "I considered cutting back and playing it square to Wayne (Rooney) because I knew he'd made a bit of a run but then I just thought, 'Why not?' and tucked it away.

"The mood in the dressing-room afterwards was fantastic but even then we knew how important it was to win at the weekend because last year when we beat Arsenal we didn't win the next game. So the result on Saturday was a big one for us particularly with Chelsea slipping up against City. I shook his (Richard Dunne's) hand when I saw him, he was a big part of a great team performance at Stamford Bridge but hopefully Dunney will have an off-day himself next Sunday (the day of the Manchester derby)."

O'Shea continues to predict great things for Liam Miller at Old Trafford, insisting that the form the former Celtic player consistently shows on the training ground will eventually earn him a regular place in Alex Ferguson's team, but it is that other Irish midfielder whose current form he points to as a major factor behind United's remarkable run in the Premiership.

"If you were to listen to Keano you'd swear he's been playing this way all the time," chuckles the young Waterford man, "but he's really been great over the last few weeks. He's an example to everyone at the club and once again he's showing up all the lads who have been writing him off for years."

Tomorrow night, however, it is another team-mate, Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo who is likely to be more prominent in O'Shea's mind. The Irishman knows all about the winger's ability to leave defenders trailing in his wake from their encounters at training and he sees him as one of the major threats posed by this week's visitors to Ireland's impressive defensive record of late.

"He's brilliant with both feet, he's strong, fast, very fast and his tricks . . . he can embarrass you quite a lot. He'll be hard to play against, the whole team will be but you want to be playing against good teams in these games, that's why you look forward to them so much."