Kerr has full squad as Swiss lose Yakin

While all of Brian Kerr's players appear to have come through the weekend unscathed, there is considerable concern in Switzerland over the fitness of Hakan Yakin, whose club has said he is unlikely to feature in Saturday's European Championship qualifier after injuring his left foot in a league game last Thursday.

Yakin, who is a key figure within the Swiss side, was forced to limp out of FC Basle's 3-0 defeat of Neuchatel Xamax after picking up the knock, and the attacking midfielder was then forced to sit out the club's weekend match.

The Basle coach, Christian Gross, gave him only a "30 per cent", chance of playing against Ireland.

Many of Kerr's most important players, in contrast, had a good weekend. Robbie Keane continued his strong run of form for Tottenham since returning from injury and Damien Duff laid on both of Chelsea's goals in a 2-1 win at Middlesbrough.

The bulk of the 22-man squad played at least some part for their teams over the weekend, although Ian Harte was suspended, while Joe Murphy, Clinton Morrison, Mark Kinsella and John O'Shea all failed to figure after starting on the bench for their respective clubs.

Longford Town, meanwhile, look to strengthen their mid-table position in the Eircom League when, fresh from Friday's cup semi-final win over Galway, they take on Shamrock Rovers at Flancare Park tonight.

Alan Matthews has Eric Lavine challenging Sean Francis and Shane Barret for a place up front after completing a suspension, but Darragh Sheridan and Brian Byrne will again be missing through injury while Barry Ferguson serves the second half of a two-match ban.

Rovers manager Liam Buckley has Pat Deans back in his squad ahead of the trip, but Keith Doyle and James Keddy are suspended. The visitors would draw level on points with their rivals if they can manage their first away win since the start of June.

Meanwhile, Michael Owen's hopes of recovering from injury in time to face Turkey in next weekend's vital Euro 2004 qualifier are hanging in the balance.

Owen has been given a 50-50 chance of playing in the make-or-break final group game after a scan confirmed a leg injury suffered in Liverpool's defeat to Arsenal on Saturday was at least not as bad as first feared.

However, given Sven-Goran Eriksson is understood to be upbeat about Owen's powers of recovery, he seems set to keep faith in Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey, as well as James Beattie and Darius Vassell, in his squad.

Eriksson, nevertheless, still postponed the announcement of his squad from last night to this afternoon as he weighed up his options.

He was also awaiting an update on David Beckham after Real Madrid's game against Espanyol and the England captain, looking to prove his own fitness following a foot problem, played for 87 minutes.

Beckham revealed he had suffered a dead leg during the match but was only substituted as a precaution and insisted afterwards that it would not affect his chances of playing against the Turks.

Beckham said: "I've had a few problems with the (foot) injury but that is not going to be any problem for England. I'm relieved to have come through the game and will be meeting up with the squad on Tuesday."

If Owen had been ruled out entirely, the England coach may have considered the idea of an emergency recall for an experienced figure such as Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham.