Keane and Dunne skip Portugal camp

Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane and defender Richard Dunne will not travel to the training camp in Portugal ahead of Giovanni's Trapattoni's first game in charge against Serbia on May 24th.

They will link up with the squad on its return to Dublin, as will Manchester United's John O'Shea and Celtic pair Aiden McGeady and Darren O'Dea. Barring injury, all five will be in the squads to face Serbia in Croke Park and Colombia in Craven Cottage on May 29th.

The new manager had always suggested that the camp at the Estrela da Luz complex was to allow him get to know his young players and after a long hard season he has seen fit to grant Keane and Dunne some time off.

O'Shea may still be involved in United's Champions League final squad on May 21st, while McGeady and O'Dea have yet to wrap up their season with Celtic.

Crystal Palace's Sean Scannell, who has a promion play-off semi-final second leg against Bristol City this evening and Cardiff City's Stephen McPhail, who faces Portsmouth in the FA cup final at the weekend are also included in the 28 man squad that was trimmed down from 40.

They are due to meet up with the squad in Portugal as soon as their club commitments are over, but Scannell may yet be involved in the play-off final if the Eagles can overturn the 2-1 deficit away to City.

Shay Given, Lee Carsley, Kevin Kilbane, Steven Reid, Darron Gibson, Paddy Kenny and Joey O'Brien have also been left at home because of injuries.

"Any player who is not in this squad is still in my thoughts," said the new manager today. "Some players who were not in the preliminary squad are in this squad because they have impressed and are playing in positions where we had vacancies. We will continue to monitor every Irish player from the start of next season and if they impress they will be brought into the squad.

"The next two weeks are important. It is my first opportunity to work with the players and I am looking forward to it. We will have two training games in Portugal and the games against Serbia and Colombia so I will get to see all the players playing."

As expected, Steve Finnan, Stephen Ireland and Andy O'Brien are not included, despite efforts by Trapattoni to convince them to return. On the trio, Trapattoni said: "As you know, I spoke to Steve Finnan, Stephen Ireland and Andy O'Brien last week in Manchester and asked them to return to international football.

"I left the door open for them to return and it is now up to them to decide what to do. But I am optimistic."

Veteran goalkeeper Dean Kiely is named, however, having decided to come out of retirement. His return means that Nicky Henderson and Darren Randolph miss out, while Kenny is set to undergo a knee operation.

All of which contributes to a squad with a distinctly youthful look to it, bar a handful of established internationals like midfielders Damien Duff and Andy Reid and striker Kevin Doyle.

In fact, excluding Duff (67 caps), Reid (27), Doyle (16) and Kiely (8), the remaining 17 who initially travel to Portugal average just over four caps. Five of those - Ipswich Town's Owen Garvan, Stoke City's Glenn Whelan, Blackpool's Wes Hoolahan, QPR's Damien Delaney and Kevin Foley of Wolves - have never been capped at senior level.

Delaney and Ipswich's Alex Bruce, who has one cap to his name, were not named in the initial squad of 40.

"I am taking 21 players to Portugal and many of them will be young - that is good," said the manager today. "I know the famous players and I want to know the young players. I will use Portugal to see how they train and how they play.

"I will learn a lot about them over the next two weeks."

Those who did not survive from the preliminary squad include the Sunderland trio of Anthony Stokes, Roy O'Donovan and David Connolly, Crystal Palace's Clinton Morrison and Wolves striker Stephen Elliott.

The Serbia game has been put back 15 minutes to 7.45pm in order to accomodate fans supporting Munster in the Heineken European Cup final against Toulouse.

Republic of Ireland squad

Goalkeepers

Colin Doyle, Birmingham City
Dean Kiely, West Bromwich Albion FC
Joe Murphy, Scunthorpe United FC
 
Defenders
 
Alex Bruce, Ipswich Town
Damien Delaney, Queens Park Rangers
Richard Dunne*, Manchester City  
Kevin Foley,  Wolverhampton Wanderers
Stephen Kelly, Birmingham City 
Paul McShane, Sunderland
Darren O 'Dea*, Celtic
John O 'Shea*, Manchester United

Midfielders
 
Damien Duff, Newcastle FC
Owen Garvan, Ipswich Town FC
Wesley Hoolahan, Blackpool FC
Stephen Hunt, Reading
Aiden McGeady*, Celtic
Stephen McPhail**, Cardiff City
Liam Miller, Sunderland
Darren Potter, Wolverhampton Wanderers
Andy Reid, Sunderland
Martin Rowlands, Queens Park Rangers
Sean Scannell**, Crystal Palace
Glenn Whelan, Stoke City

Attackers
 
Kevin Doyle, Reading
Robbie Keane*, Tottenham Hotspur
Andy Keogh, Wolverhampton Wanderers
Shane Long, Reading
Daryl Murphy, Sunderland