Staunton recalls Ireland to squad

Republic of Ireland boss Steve Staunton has recalled Manchester City's Stephen Ireland for the forthcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers against Germany and Cyprus despite his bizarre early departure from the squad last month.

The midfielder falsely claimed his grandmother had died in order to make an early return to Manchester ahead of the trip to the Czech Republic but Staunton has since accepted Ireland's apology and includes him in the squad announced this afternoon.

Staunton has also handed an international recall to Bolton midfielder Joey O'Brien  O'Brien, 21, has been out of the international scene since making his Irish debut against Sweden in March 2006.

The Dubliner suffered a series of injuries that halted his progress at club level but has recently returned to Sammy Lee's side at the Reebok Stadium.

Staunton's side face the Germans at Croke Park on October 13th and host the Cypriots at the same venue four days later.

With three games left in Group D, the Irish need to win all of their fixtures and hope the Czech Republic fail to pick up three points from their remaining games.

With Paul McShane and Stephen Hunt suspended for the first of those games, Staunton named a 25-man squad but opted not to recall Bolton defender Andy O'Brien as expected.

Staunton insists his side will not lack motivation despite the fact that it is unlikely the team can still qualify for the finals.

"It's out of our hands now but we have to finish the group off as best we can," Staunton said. "We know that the more victories we get then the higher the seeding we'll get when the World Cup draw is made. That's a priority too."

Staunton came in for a lot of criticism after the last two games but is adamant he is far from finished as national team manager.

"I never considered my position at all. The players did okay, the performances were good enough to get more points than we did," he said.

"In Slovakia there was a definite foul against Richard Dunne before their second goal, then in the second game it was always going to be very difficult after we went down to 10 men.

"We've taken a lot of positives out of those games and have two good games coming up that we're looking forward to.

"If you can't get motivated to play Germany at any time you've got problems. Mathematically we're not out of it."

Staunton also indicated that senior internationals including Stephen Carr, Steve Finnan and Lee Carsley had not shown any inclination towards retiring from national team duty.

"Nobody has said anything to me about wanting to retire but it is up to them ultimately," he added.

Of Ireland's situation, the manager commented: "It's history now, just one of those things.

"It's unfortunate but as he's shown at the weekend, Stephen is back to his best. We know Manchester City are helping him out on a daily basis and whatever we can do to help, we'll do it."

Ireland Squad

Colgan (Barnsley), C Doyle (Birmingham), Given (Newcastle), Carr (Newcastle), Dunne (Man City), Finnan (Liverpool), Kelly (Birmingham), McShane (Sunderland), J O'Brien (Bolton), O'Shea (Man Utd), Carsley (Everton), Douglas (Leeds), Hunt (Reading), Ireland (Man City), Kilbane (Wigan), McGeady (Celtic), A O'Brien (Hibernian), Potter (Wolves), Reid (Charlton), K Doyle (Reading), Elliott (Wolves), Keane (Tottenham), Keogh (Wolves), Long (Reading), Murphy (Sunderland).