Drawing Germany in the Euro qualifiers sent a few shivers down Irish spines still bent under the weight of that humiliating 6-1 World Cup defeat in Dublin in October 2012.

We’re used to football managers giving it “110%” but yesterday Giovanni Trapattoni wasn’t even prepared to go the ton.

In what would prove a major boost for Ireland at the European Championships, Giovanni Trapattoni has said Richard Dunne is on course to return to action for Aston Villa as early as the end of this month.

Marco Tardelli has said that he would like to take the reins of the Republic of Ireland team after Giovanni Trapattoni.

ENGLAND were training at the same time as Ireland at London Colney yesterday but the English session was strictly behind closed doors, meaning that the Irish press posse was kept at more than arm’s length while our English counterparts weren’t permitted on site at all.