Quinn is relishing partnering Keane

Niall Quinn, once an integral part of the Republic of Ireland team, will start only his third international game in two years in tomorrow's European Championship meeting with Malta at Lansdowne Road.

Quinn returns in one of three changes from the team which beat Croatia last month, the other alterations bringing in Jeff Kenna and Gary Breen in place of the injured Denis Irwin and Phil Babb.

For a man who overcame career-threatening injuries the latest summons to arms just a week after his 32nd birthday is a significant landmark. And he wasn't slow to stress the significance of the occasion.

"There were times, difficult times, when after getting the latest medical report on my injury I lay awake looking at the ceiling and wondering what lay ahead for me.

"Now that I've made it back every game, every training session is precious to me. It's been a bad experience and I count myself lucky to have survived it."

Gratitude suitably recorded, he firmly believes he can still be involved in international football in three years' time. And he is looking to Robbie Keane, his frontline partner tomorrow, to help him achieve it.

"Robbie is the closest we've got in Ireland to a superstar, an exciting player who I'm certain is going to score 10 or 15 international goals over the next three years. I played alongside him in the game against Argentina and wondered was he really that good.

"Now after training with him I'm absolutely convinced. Some of the things he can do with the ball are brilliant. There's still a bit of naivety there - he's still learning how to kid defenders - but technically he's the best I've ever played with.

"John Aldridge in his prime was a better finisher but the lad is still only 18. Give him another couple of years and he's going to set the standard for everybody."

Inevitably, it raised the question of a comparison with England's superstar Michael Owen. And Quinn measured his words carefully in response.

"Technically, I believe Keane is the better player. Owen's great asset is his pace and his finish when he gets into goalscoring positions. But Robbie has a little bit on him in as much as even with his back to goal he is capable of anything.

"Owen hurts you when he gets in behind the defence. But Keane has the ability to hurt you everywhere.

"I am not a natural goalscorer. I see my job as getting the ball quickly to him. And if I can show Mick McCarthy and the general public that I can help him achieve his potential it will extend my career with Ireland."

For Breen, no less than Kenna, tomorrow's game offers the opportunity of convincing the manager that he represents a realistic option for the more difficult tests to be faced later in the qualifying series.

Preferred to Phil Babb for the game against Argentina, he failed to deliver on that occasion and when the Liverpool player came into the side to improve the quality of the defence in the second half, Breen sensed that he had blown his big chance.

"At the time the manager had, I felt, a difficult decision to make between Phil and myself. I could have put him under further pressure with a good performance but, instead, I merely succeeded in letting him off the hook.

"It wasn't that Argentina were that good, more a case of my making mistakes. Looking back, I probably tried too hard to impress - and ended up doing exactly the opposite.

"With Phil out I was looking forward to the chance of playing in Yugoslavia. No disrespect to Malta but that would have been the real test. But hopefully I can still do myself some favours on Wednesday."

Predictably, Damien Duff, in some danger of being omitted from the postponed fixture in Belgrade, now keeps his place for a game in which he is likely to get full licence to express his flair going forward. It means that there is still no room for Mark Kennedy, a player whose career has been on hold for much of the last year.

At his best, however, his more direct style still represents a useful asset and McCarthy may well acknowledge the point by reintroducing him at some stage of tomorrow's game.

Overall, it is a highly predictable selection with Mark Kinsella retaining his role as Roy Keane's partner in midfield and Jason McAteer, freed of the threat which a fit Gary Kelly would have presented, holding on to the rightsided position in midfield.

In the last analysis, however, it is the front men who will shoulder most of the responsibility for ensuring that Malta are not only beaten, but beaten comprehensively. And McCarthy is adamant that the partnership he has chosen is the best for the job.

"At some point players like David Connolly and Keith O'Neill are going to be back to put the pressure on the men in possession but just now, I believe that Niall and Robbie are the ones to do the business for us," he said.

Irish Team

S Given (Newcastle): J Kenna (Blackburn), K Cunningham (Wimbledon), G Breen (Coventry), S Staunton (Liverpool), J McAteer (Liverpool), Roy Keane (Man Utd) capt, M Kinsella (Charlton), D Duff (Blackburn), Robbie Keane (Wolves), N Quinn (Sunderland). Subs: To be named.