B INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Rep of Ireland 2 Nottm Forest 0:GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI will decide over the next day or so whether Alex Bruce, already named in his squad, will be joined tomorrow by Caleb Folan, provided both prove their fitness ahead of next Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Cyprus.
They will be joined by Keith Andrews, Darron Gibson and Kevin Foley.
Bruce and Folan both came away from last night's comfortable victory for the Irish B team over Nottingham Forest at Dalymount Park with minor injuries but, said the Italian afterwards, "they have six days until the Cyprus game and it might be enough, we will see."
The Ireland manager expressed satisfaction with last night's performance and delight with what he described as "beautiful" goals by Folan and Andy Keogh.
"I saw on the pitch what I wanted to see," he said, "and discovered new qualities in players who I knew by name but had never seen on the pitch. Today, I am even more confident that if we run into injury problems we will have strong players to bring into our side."
Predictably, last night's game started at a pedestrian pace and given Forest's form of late, it was no great surprise either that the home side looked comfortable from early on.
The Championship side's manager, Colin Calderwood, missed the game because he is away in China checking out potential venues for next season's pre-season training.
Having sent his team to Dublin with a record of one draw and seven defeats in their last eight games, the former Spurs defender's trip has been viewed as a tad premature by the club's supporters, many of whom would probably prefer to see the Scot indefinitely extend his stay in the Far East.
One reason for the dramatic plunge in his popularity so soon after leading the club to promotion is a widespread belief that his tactics aren't suited to the players at his disposal.
And there was some sense the supporters might be on to something last night with the 4-3-3 employed by the visitors allowing the wide Irish players a lot of time and space out on the flanks.
In a side demoralised by successive defeats and weakened by injuries, most notably to Welsh international Rob Earnshaw, there were few stand-out performers but on a rare appearance in the first team, Dubliner Mark Byrne did well at the heart of the midfield, while Arron Davies had the odd good moment when pressing forward down the right.
Davies's failure, however, to pull the ball back low for Andy Cole when the former England striker was in space inside the box early on probably cost Forest their best opportunity of the first half. The veteran striker did get a half chance to pull something of the bag a little later on but failed to cut behind Darren O'Dea who, having been a little lucky to make an initial contact with the ball, then tidied up nicely.
In general, though, almost all of the action was at the other end. True to his word, Trapattoni sought to employ the same sort of shape he has brought to the Ireland first team and so much of the home side's attacking energy was expended out side.
Keogh, in particular, posed problems for left back Joel Lynch, while Wes Hoolahan came to feature more as the locals started to use the other flank too.
In central midfield, Gibson and Andrews ran things while, it seemed, barely breaking sweat, and the Manchester United player rambled forward to produce the game's first two attempts on goal, both shots from the edge of the area missing the target.
A little past the midway point in the first half, though, the Irish really started to make their superiority tell. Previously, more than one attacking move had broken down because of over-confidence in the home side's passing, while Anthony Stokes should have done better than force a decent save when sent racing clear on Paul Smith.
But Stokes made amends when he collected a short ball from Hoolahan and quickly played a low through ball for Folan, whose cool finish to the bottom right corner suggested there just might be a bit more to him than standing on opponents' toes.
Despite the goal and a decent showing overall, the Hull City striker still made way at the break - the Italian perhaps mindful of the player's minor groin strain - to be replaced by Reading's Shane Long.
The 21-year-old's abilities are better known to the manager but as it happens, he made his mark too, setting up Ireland's second goal by crossing from the right for Keogh after the winger had continued his run through the centre despite initially being dispossessed by one of the Forest defenders.
From there on, the home side simply coasted along. In addition to making eight substitutions, Trapattoni also had to rejig things positionally a couple of times, with Keith Treacy dropping to left back after the arrival of Owen Garvan and Martin Rowlands taking over at right back as Foley moved inside to cover for injured skipper Bruce, who had limped off, leaving the Republic with 10 men a little over 10 minutes from time.
None of it seemed to do the Irish much harm, though, and had it not been for a good, late Keirin Westwood save from Matt Thornhill both the home side's goalkeepers would have been robbed of any chance to impress.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND:Murphy (Scunthorpe); Foley (Luton Town), Bruce (Ipswich Town), O'Dea (Celtic), Ward (Wolves); Keogh (Wolves), Gibson (Manchester Utd), Andrews (Blackburn Rovers), Hoolahan (Norwich City); Stokes (Sunderland), Folan (Hull City). Subs: Westwood (Coventry City) for Murphy, Long (Reading) for Folan, Treacy (Blackburn Rovers) for Hoolahan (half-time); Rowland (QPR) for Gibson, Potter (Wolves) for Andrews (both 56 mins); Nolan (Blackburn Rovers) for O'Dea (59 mins); Scannell (Crystal Palace) for Keogh (63 mins); Garvan (Ipswich Town) for Ward (69 mins).
NOTTINGHAM FOREST:Smith; Perch, Chambers, Breckin, Lynch; Cohen, Byrne, Thornhill; Davies, Cole, Martin. Subs: Garner for Cole (half-time); Newbold for Cohen (63 mins); Heath for Lynch, Reid for Martin (both 70 mins).
Referee:C Hancock (Dublin).
