Quinn dismisses row and wants Grealish to choose Ireland

Stephen Quinn insists there will be no issue between him and Jack Grealish, who he labelled a "fake Paddy" earlier this season, should the Aston Villa midfielder declare to play for the Republic of Ireland senior team.

Grealish, who is English-born but has played for Ireland underage thanks to Irish grandparents, had to contend with some verbal and physical attention from Quinn in late August when Hull City met Villa in the Premier League.

The Villa youngster played down the confrontation soon after and Quinn was equally dismissive of the incident when asked about it after Ireland’s training session at their Malahide base yesterday morning.

“There was a bit of banter,” said the 28-year old Dubliner. “[Aston Villa’s] Fabien Delph was involved as well. He started it as if it was banter. The story unfortunately grew arms and legs and ran away with itself.

“I think it was on the front page of the newspapers at one point. There are a lot worse things happening in the world than me having a bit of banter with a fellow Irish, or potentially Irish, player so...”

Quinn further diluted the incident by pointing out that his own son is “half-English anyway” and expressed the hope that Grealish would ignore the overt advances being made toward him by England, and choose to play senior football for Ireland.

It was otherwise a low-key morning at the north Dublin venue, what with all eyes being on ‘Roy Keane Day’ at the Aviva Stadium, but the spectre of the Germany game in Gelsenkirchen loomed large given the small sliver of news that there was.

Confirmation that centre-half Richard Keogh sat out training due to a calf injury that makes him doubtful for the games with Gibraltar and the world champions was far from welcome given the scale of the task facing Martin O’Neill’s side on Tuesday in Germany.

With Seamus Coleman previously marked absent, the Ireland manager was already down a body in a rearguard that will surely be sorely tested by Joachim Low’s side and the lack of depth available to cover was laid bare yesterday.

The uncapped and untested Brian Lenihan, so recently of Cork City but now resident at Hull City, had already been called up this week and it seemed at one point that the Irish-qualified Cyrus Christie was about to be measured up for a green jersey.

The Coventry-born Derby County right-back has reportedly been contacted by O’Neill, who is frighteningly light on cover at right-back, but the prospects of Christie securing the paperwork necessary to appear over the next four days are highly unlikely.

The fast-tracking of Lenihan and the scramble to secure Christie stand in stark contrast to Quinn’s own international story, given he waited until he was 27 — six years after his first call-up — before being granted a senior cap.

He spoke yesterday about the journey to get this far.

Times have been hard the last few weeks with Steve Bruce overlooking him for a place in the Tigers’ midfield after a bright start to the season, but he has solidified his slot in the Irish engine room with appearances in each of the last seven games.

A first competitive start against Georgia in the Group D opener last month highlighted O’Neill’s fondness for the Dubliner, whose importance to the side has only been heightened by the absence through injury this week of Everton’s James McCarthy.

“It’s a good squad here so it is always going to be a battle.

“Throughout my career it has been a battle in trying to impress and climb the leagues and what have you.

“Now my face is in there I can only keep trying to apply myself and play well.”