Stephen Kenny has said that he can’t permit the crisis at the FAI to be a negative distraction as he seeks to keep his focus firmly on his role as U21 manager.

Senior international Megan Campbell has strongly urged the FAI to make an external appointment to succeed Colin Bell as manager of the Irish team and warned that anything else would be a “cop-out” and signal a regression for the women’s game here.

“I’ve seen a few good wee strikers and I’m a bit worried about my own position,” jokes Irish international Amber Barrett as she takes a brief break from another “flat out” day touring clubs in Cork in her ambassadorial role at the FAI’s Festival of Football.

THE players Giovanni Trapattoni dubbed ‘the disappeared’ have reappeared in his squad for next month’s friendly against Croatia — but the manager has made it crystal clear that he will stand for no more repeats of the confusion which surrounded his last squad call-up back in May.