Republic of Ireland 1 Germany 6

A change in personnel is unavoidable and a change in formation a real possibility as Ireland prepare to take on Germany in the teeth of what Giovanni Trapattoni admits is the biggest injury crisis of his time as manager of Ireland.

The despair we can handle.

DAMIEN DUFF is out of Ireland’s European Championship qualifier against Macedonia in June.

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

JAMES McCARTHY might have been cast in the Enda Kenny no-show role last night but there was no debate about the winning candidate at the Aviva Stadium, as a rocket to remember from Darron Gibson illuminated what, until then, had been a drab occasion and provided the first of three good reasons why a crowd of just 20,900 were, in the final analysis, glad they’d turned up for the inaugural Carling Nations Cup game.

FRIENDLY games might be made for offering youth its chance but, in the Giovanni Trapattoni scheme of things, they are also a country for old men — especially if the veterans are badly in need of a run-out.

THE plight of Shane Duffy dominated all thoughts at the Irish camp in Malahide yesterday as news of the player’s recovery allowed a shocked squad to regain focus on tomorrow evening’s game against Paraguay at the RDS.

IN SPORT, it doesn’t get much more heartbreaking than this.

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI has given his strongest hint yet that he would like to extend his tenure as Republic of Ireland manager.

ANDY REID looks like he has a fight on his hands to break into Giovanni Trapattoni’s World Cup plans after the manager expressed himself satisfied by what he saw from his Irish selection in the 1-1 draw with Norway.

IT’S the greening of Sunderland in reverse, with Steve Staunton naming four of the Championship-winners in his Irish squad for the friendly games in the USA later this month.

LAST WEEK, Bobby Robson raised a few eyebrows when, citing Ireland’s run of seven points from three games, he suggested that the team were now “on a roll”.

ALL going according to plan, the Irish defence won’t be hogging the headlines tonight but that doesn’t mean that Richard Dunne will be anything less than fully focused for the 90 minutes in Serravalle.

MAYBE Bob Dylan knows more about football than the rest of us. After all, he was the man who said the darkest hour comes right before the dawn.

OH dear.

GOAL’s John O’ Shea was on radio and television during the week decrying our Government’s gesture in allocating e1 million and sending some 30 members of the Irish defence forces to help with the relief efforts in New Orleans.

ROY KEANE tends to ration his public utterances these days, so there was a little collective shiver of anticipation among the press when it was announced he would be joining Brian Kerr for the eve of match press conference.

THE people of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are enduring the worst tragedy since the Second World War. Five million of our compatriots have died and millions more have suffered atrocities.