Kenna added to Irish squad
Kenna (33) has not played for Ireland since 1999 but his current form and the experience he can bring to the party were huge plus points when Ireland’s management team had to move yet again to bring a squad hit by injuries up to strength.
Said Hughton: “Jeff is a good addition for us. He has been playing regularly this season and has played right-back and left-back for Birmingham.
“I have first-hand knowledge of how well Jeff can do that because he scored a goal against Spurs early in the season from left-back at St. Andrews.”
Spurs’ Gary Doherty took little part in training yesterday as a result of the back injury picked up in Monday’s 1-0 defeat to Bolton at the Reebok Stadium, where he fouled Youri Djorkaeff for the decisive penalty in the last minute.
“You could see after the game it was a big blow to him, particularly as he had come on as a substitute in the first-half and had done very well. It is always difficult when you come on as sub and there is a reasonable tempo to the game because it can be difficult to get into the tempo.
“I thought he did ever so well as a centre-half, adapting very, very well,” said Hughton.
Doherty was excused the morning training session with Ireland and instead underwent a ’recovery session’ in the swimming pool to ease out the stiffness in his back. He will be fit to play if selected against Georgia and is most likely a candidate at centre-forward rather than centre-back.
Said Hughton: “There are not many players around like Gary who can play equally well as centre-half or centre-forward.
“It goes without saying that if you look at our (Ireland’s) squad and the situation with Clinton (Morrison) and Robbie (Keane) and the fact that he has been playing for ’Spurs as a centre-forward then the likelihood is that if he figures it will be as a centre-forward.”
Graham Barrett (Brighton) and David Connolly (Wimbledon) both joined the Irish party yesterday after playing for their clubs on Tuesday.
The squad will fly out from Dublin today to Tbilisi where it was snowing yesterday and temperatures fell as low as three degrees.
Manager Brian Kerr yesterday confirmed that Robbie Keane’s availability was not an issue. The funeral of Keane’s father takes place this morning while Ireland fly to Georgia and it will be left to the striker to decide whether he will make himself available for the upcoming matches.
Meanwhile, Wales’ match with Serbia & Montenegro has been postponed until August 20 because of the political unrest in the country following the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.
Delegations from the two countries met UEFA officials in Rome yesterday to discuss the European Championship qualifier which had been due to be held at the Red Star Stadium in Belgrade on Wednesday.
UEFA communications director Mike Lee said: “The match will not take place next week and has been rearranged for August 20, although the venue has still to be decided.
“The Serbian government have declared a state of emergency in Belgrade and do not want any sports events held in the city or surrounding area.
Meanwhile, UEFA’s executive committee have awarded next season’s Champions League final to the Schalke Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and the UEFA Cup final to the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Newcastle’s St James’ Park, Sunderland’s Stadium of Light and Hampden Park in Glasgow were all in the running for the UEFA Cup final. Howerver, because last season’s Champions League final was in Glasgow and this year’s at Old Trafford their chances of success were always going to be slim.
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