Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni named the starting eleven to face Georgia this weekend in the team's opening World Cup qualifier in Germany.

Mohamed Sissoko was back in the Liverpool starting line-up to face Birmingham just a month after the eye injury against Benfica which had left him blind for 36 hours.

IRELAND’S European Championship preparations suffered a further serious setback when Stephen Finnan (Fulham) and Steven Reid (Millwall) were yesterday sent home to their clubs with injuries that ruled them out of Saturday’s game against Georgia and next Wednesday’s match in Albania.