Reid and Finnan forced to withdraw

SOCCER: While the question of Robbie Keane's participation in the coming European qualifiers in Georgia and Albania remained a matter of rather subdued speculation following the death of the player's father on Monday, Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr was again grappling with significant withdrawals from his squad last night as injury problems obliged Steve Finnan and Steven Reid to return home.

The pair both had scans on problems that were known about before they arrived in Dublin on Monday and when - towards the end of a day over which the bereavement suffered by Keane and his family had cast a long shadow - there was time to consider the results, it was decided there was little to be achieved by keeping either player with the squad any longer.

Finnan had always been a serious doubt for these games after fracturing a rib in a friendly match two weeks ago.

With Gary Kelly and Ian Harte already gone, however, Kerr was anxious to give the 26-year-old every possible chance of featuring even in the second of the team's two outings, against Albania in Tirana next Wednesday.

Unfortunately for all concerned the tests confirmed the Fulham defender's rate of progress was too slow to give him any chance of playing and so he and Reid, the victim of an Achilles strain picked up at the weekend, were both allowed to return to their clubs.

Pondering his various difficulties earlier in the day, Kerr had remained upbeat, insisting that the squad would not be too far off the strength of the one he brought to Glasgow last month and insisting, "whatever players we end up with we'll make a good team out of them."

His reaction to these latest withdrawals was to promote Graham Barrett to the senior squad while Kerr said he would consider his other options overnight. On the face of it, he does not really have too many left to play with.

By later today he may at least have a better idea as to whether Keane is likely to travel for one or both games following his tragic loss, after a long illness, of his father, Robbie senior.

When Keane came through Monday evening's match against Bolton - his first game back after several weeks out with a knee injury - without any obvious ill effects there must have been considerable relief around the team hotel after his progress was watched with great interest. Within an hour, however, the bad news reached members of the management team.

Kerr talked with Keane yesterday morning, offering his condolences to the player, his mother and the rest of the family. But, he said, "I didn't speak to him about whether he'll play. I didn't think that it was appropriate."

Keane, meanwhile, issued a statement through his management company in which he remarked: "My father was a massive influence on my football career as well as being inspirational in every part of my life.

"He fought a very brave and long fight against cancer, but always remained in good spirits. I considered him more like a brother to me than a father. It fills me with pride to remember that the last match he saw me play in was against Everton when I was lucky enough to score a hat-trick."

One source close to the player expressed the belief that Keane would want to travel to Georgia after tomorrow's funeral but it is likely that every effort will be made to give the 22 year-old the space to make his own mind up regarding the two games over the next day or so.

In the meantime, Kerr set about preparing the players he does have for his first competitive game and the manager expressed some satisfaction with the way the morning's training session had gone.

Richard Dunne arrived in time to train while Stephen McPhail was due to arrive yesterday and Kerr's determination to "bring things on from the situation I've inherited" was greeted with something of an endorsement from Kevin Kilbane for the new man.

"I think we've all been a bit surprised by Brian, by his incredible knowledge of the game and by how much he seems to know even about individual players," said the Sunderland winger. "All of the lads believe that we can win both of these games, we certainly have the talent in the squad to do it, and it's clear that Brian's going to give us a very good idea what to expect from the Georgians and Albanians.

"I remember Tommy Butler telling me before that he'd been in a team playing against an under-16 Yugoslavia side and Brian would know all about them. It's astonishing really but it will be a big help."

If Kerr has spotted the secret of victory against either of Ireland's hosts in the coming week he wasn't giving anything away yesterday as he described them as tough teams, strong physically and who play with a lot of pride.

"Neither of them will be pushovers," he said. "The Georgians might even think that they still have a chance of getting something out of this group given that they've only played one game, and the Albanians may not have been world beaters down the years but they've played some very good sides in recent times and all of the games have been close."

He said that the team would probably feel the loss of Birmingham City's Clinton Morrison whose strength and ability in the air might have proved to be a valuable asset in both games.

Later in the day, however, there was more bad news regarding the Birmingham striker, whose club manager Steve Bruce said that the player's dislocated shoulder is now likely to keep him out for the rest of the season, potentially ruling him out of Ireland's return games against these two opponents back in Dublin in early June.