Gloves on in battle to be Ireland's number one

It’s the perceived battle for the number one spot which will keep the pundits and the back pages occupied between now and Sunday, a head to head between the goalkeeper who lost his place at West Ham this season and the goalkeeper who was named Sheffield Wednesday’s player of the year.
And it’s a contest which was thrown into particularly sharp relief by the contrasting fortunes of the two netminders in the friendly against Uruguay. But the only man with the power to make the decisive call before the World Cup qualifier against Austria is not about to prematurely show his hand.