Why Trap should bring Reid back into fold

FOR A guy who isn’t even getting his game, you’d have to say that Andy Reid is playing a blinder for Ireland.

As if shedding more than a stone and half in weight in the summer and winning man of the match plaudits for Sunderland this season wasn’t enough, the 27-year-old Dubliner has also been a model of zen-like calm when it comes to dealing with the inevitable media interest in his continuing exclusion from the Ireland set-up.

Even in the face of what many would interpret on his behalf as an act of ultimate provocation – the late call-up of QPR’s Martin Rowlands for the final two games of Ireland’s World Cup qualifying campaign – Reid has presented an unruffled exterior to the world.