Kerr opts to give media a wide berth

SOCCER/Cyprus v Rep of Ireland: The Republic of Ireland's preparations for the final two games of their World Cup Group Four campaign got off to a subdued start in Malahide yesterday where 16 of Brian Kerr's 22-man squad took part in the first training session of the week.

For Kevin Doyle this was a first opportunity to take his place amongst the country's elite.

With Clinton Morrison suspended for Saturday's game, that has opened the door slightly to Doyle, who in June joined English Championship side Reading in an £80,000 move from Cork City.

The move, combined with three goals to date for Reading, has elevated the 22-year-old from the under-21s and into the senior reckoning.

For Kerr the Cyprus and Switzerland games may be his last as national team manager and his irritation with growing speculation regarding his position presumably explains why he chose to cancel a scheduled pitch-side press briefing and pass on word regarding yesterday's absentees via the FAI's press office.

At least three of the six that failed to take part yesterday are likely starters against the Cypriots, but none looks to be a doubt for the game.

Stephen Carr was absent because of a family bereavement while Shay Given had arrived into the team hotel by the time the session had ended and Kevin Kilbane was due in last night.

Steve Finnan, meanwhile, did some walking around the pitch as training got under way before returning to the hotel for further treatment on a sore knee.

Nicky Colgan is due to arrive this morning after the Barnsley management requested that he be allowed to stay on for an extra day and Kerr agreed.

Gary Breen, then, looks to be the closest thing the Ireland manager has to a doubt for Saturday's game in Nicosia after the Sunderland defender aggravated a calf strain during the 1-1 draw with West Ham over the weekend.

A decision is likely to be taken on the 31-year-old's fitness today although with Kenny Cunningham, Richard Dunne and Andy O'Brien all fit and available to face Cyprus ahead of the long-time regular in the pecking order, it seems possible that Breen will be encouraged to take the time to recover fully before flying in to provide cover for the Swiss game.

With Roy Keane, Andy Reid and Morrison all missing from the trip, Kerr will be relieved that all of their likely replacements look to be in good shape at this stage.

Both Matt Holland and Graham Kavanagh came through yesterday's session well and each will be hoping to partner Kevin Kilbane in central midfield with the Wigan player's recent form at club level appearing to give him a clear edge.

Steven Reid, Stephen Elliott, Gary Doherty and David Connolly, all of whom will also be in contention to fill the vacancies on Saturday night, all looked comfortable too.

The squad will fly out to Cyprus this afternoon knowing anything less than a win on Saturday will put an end to their remaining hopes of making it to Germany next summer and, most likely, cost their manager his job.

Kerr allowed his frustration over the lack of a new contract offer show last Tuesday when he told journalists at the press conference, where he announced his squad for this trip, that he was "endeavouring" to find out what his position and his reluctance to talk yesterday was widely perceived amongst the media as evidence of his growing anger over the very public nature of his predicament and the amount of coverage being devoted to it.

It has long been anticipated that should Ireland finish third or lower in the group then the Dubliner would be shown the door and a replacement sought while qualification would be certain to prompt the offer of a new deal.

What is less certain is how the former national youth team boss would fare in the event that the Irish reach the play-offs only to be beaten in creditable circumstances by a better team.

There are those within the association who feel that in such a scenario Kerr could well be given the opportunity to lead the team through the European Championship qualifiers even if there would not be much scope for the 52-year-old to improve on the terms of a deal that currently sees the former St Patrick's Athletic boss paid €484,000 a year.

Within Merrion Square, however, there also appear to be some concerns with Kerr's management style.

These are amongst the issues that may well be formally addressed in the event that the team narrowly fails to make it to Germany and the manager's representatives find themselves in a considerably weakened position in their dealing with his employers.

Should the Republic of Ireland fail to beat Switzerland, however, there is a growing sense that Kerr will be discarded. Within the FAI opinion would be divided on whether he should be given another campaign to get things right and he may well have his supporters on the association's board if it ends up considering the issue on the Monday after the Switzerland game.

John Delaney's willingness, however, to sit tight has provided a fairly clear indication of where the organisation's (and the board's) most influential figure stands on the issue.

The inability of the team to win another key game could hardly be expected to soften his position on the future of a man who said himself upon being handed the job that he expected to be judged on results.