Opportunity knocks for Fleming and McPhail

Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has added Curtis Fleming and Stephen McPhail to his squad for this weekend's World Cup qualifier against Cyprus. The pair were called in yesterday, a day after Steven Reid and Rory Delap informed their manager that they would have to miss the trip to Dublin because of injury.

McPhail, who played in the recent friendly against Croatia, will not join the rest of the squad until tomorrow, as he is playing in a reserve team game for Leeds tonight. "It will benefit him and us," said McCarthy, "because Stephen needs games at the moment."

Fleming, though, is expected to train with the rest of the Irish players today and with McCarthy hit by more than his fair share of defensive injuries just now it is not out of the question that the Middlesbrough defender could end up playing some part in Saturday's game. It would be his 11th cap and his first for more than three years.

Predictably, McCarthy declined to say much about either player's chances of figuring in his team on Saturday with the manager observing only that, "they're both international players and, if fit, they could well be involved the game".

If Portugal were to slip up against Estonia, Ireland could secure automatic qualification for next summer's World Cup finals in Japan and Korea by winning the group. Both teams are at present on 21 points.

Four of the squad already in Dublin had to sit out yesterday's first training session: Steve Staunton, Clinton Morrison, Gary Breen and Mark Kennedy were all sidelined by what were said to be fairly inconsequential knocks.

"There's nothing in any of them really," said McCarthy, before adding that while he hoped that one or two would be in a position to train at some point today, he is confident that all four will be available for selection on Saturday.

Kennedy's fitness may be enough to solve one of the dilemmas facing McCarthy as he weighs up his options ahead of Saturday evening's kick-off. The Wolves winger may well return to the side this week as Jason McAteer already on a yellow card and facing the prospect of a suspension if he was to pick up another on Saturday.

Robbie Keane and Mark Kinsella are the other players currently on bookings and so the fitness of Clinton Morrison will also be of particular interest to McCarthy as he prepares to name his starting 11.

McCarthy will almost certainly stick with Kevin Kilbane despite the midfielder's loss of form for Sunderland where he has recently been the victim of abuse from his own club's supporters.

Kilbane's troubles with the fans recently flared up during what was perceived to have been a poor performance in the league game against Tottenham. The 24-year-old was substituted to jeers from sections of the crowd and, though only on the bench three days later when Charlton came to the Stadium of Light, he was booed when it was announced that he was amongst the substitutes.

But club manager Peter Reid has kept faith with the player who made such a strong initial impact after arriving from West Brom. Reid yesterday pleaded with the club's supporters to give the Irishman their backing as he seeks to reproduce his best form at home.

"I thought they gave him an excellent reception on Saturday at the Reebok (Stadium) and he turned in an excellent performance (against Bolton Wanderers), particularly in the second half when he switched to the right hand side.

"Now we're just hoping that Kevin can reproduce that sort of form, the form that I know he's capable of at the Stadium of Light and I'm certain that with the fans' support he can do that."

Many of Kilbane's problem at club level has been down to the popularity of the man he is seen to be forcing to play out of position. Both he and Argentinean midfielder Julio Arca, who again started on the right in the win against Bolton as Kilbane returned to Sunderland's starting line up, prefer to play on the left flank.

It would seem a positive sign that their manager is so enthusiastic about Kilbane's performance in the second period by which time the pair had switched over.

Reid also says that he has watched several of the Republic's World Cup qualifiers during the current campaign and been impressed on each occasion by the form of his player.

"He's been frightening, but I think the difference is that he's gone out there relaxed and played his natural game. For us at home I think he's just tried a little too hard, but I know that with the help of the home supporters he can play the same way for Sunderland."