Kerr keeping up appearances as Morrison joins casualty list

THE Republic of Ireland squad held most of their training session behind closed doors in Tel Aviv yesterday, and by the time the media were granted access to the Blumfield Stadium, first impressions were decidedly mixed.

Up above there were clear blue skies and blazing sunshine, with enough of a cooling sea breeze to take the edge off the heat, but down on the pitch the eye was immediately drawn to the less pleasing sight of the walking wounded.

Or, in the case of Shay Given, the lying down wounded, as Ireland's Number One reclined on the turf and watched his colleagues going through their paces.

He wasn't alone for long. Gary Breen soon joined him on the sidelines, a knock shipped during the end-of-session match requiring ice on the knee.

More alarmingly still, Clinton Morrison was next to join the casualty list, injuring his foot as Andy O'Brien blocked his shot. The last we saw of the striker he was limping onto the team bus, apparently nursing a sore ankle.

Yet manager Brian Kerr was insistent that appearances were deceptive and struck a decidedly upbeat tone as he gave a brief medical update before leaving the ground.

"Shay did 45 minutes earlier in the session without any reaction and it was only as a precaution that he didn't take part in the match at the end," said Kerr.

"I didn't expect him to do quite so much Packie Bonner was banging balls at him for a good while.

"I know Clinton limped out but he'll be okay. Andy O'Brien came across him as he tried to shoot and he got a kick on the shin but it's nothing to worry about," he added.

Still, the sight of Morrison walking with a pronounced limp, followed by reports later in the day that the player himself thought he might struggle to overcome the knock, suggest Kerr's optimism could be misplaced.

Certainly Morrison's progress will be closely monitored over the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Breen's knock is unlikely to have a bearing on tomorrow's proceedings one way or another, since Kenny Cunningham, who had been feeling the after-effects of a Birmingham derby, was moving freely as he took a full part in training for the first time this week.

Overall, Kerr's mood seemed to match the weather, as he praised the training facilities at the ground which is home to Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv.

"The pitch was excellent and it's been warm and sunny," he beamed.

"The lads were glad to get the sun on their back and it was good to get a bit of work done after the long trip."

The manager knows that the mood will be very different in the Ramat Gan stadium tomorrow evening.

"It'll be tense and there'll be plenty of passion," he said.

"But the people are glad to see us here, we've been made very welcome and it's great to be involved."

The Israelis at the training session were certainly ravenous for any information about the Irish that came their way, and the presence of so many stars of the Premiership only added to the general air of excitement.

Staff at the Blumfield Stadum managed a bit of a coup when they nabbed Roy Keane before he boarded the team bus and steered him towards a wall in a corridor where he signed 'Best Wishes' on an enormous poster of himself in action for Manchester United.

Even the revelation that the tall man in white T-shirt and shorts chatting to Shay Given was one Packie Bonner brought an excited response.

"Pat Bonner? That is Pat Bonner? Do you think he will speak to us?"

Of course, it probably shouldn't come as any great surprise that those World Cup penalty heroics in Genoa would make Ireland's goalkeeping coach a household name even as far away as the Middle East, but, as it turned out, the locals have rather more parochial reasons for remembering the big man from Donegal.

Back in 1984, Ireland lost 3-0 here in a friendly and the scorer of the third goal, Moshe Dinay, is now an assistant to national team boss Avraham Grant.

The man in the Irish goal was Packie Bonner and his presence here, all of 21 years later, brought back happy memories for those who were there.

"It was April 4," I was told, just in case I'd somehow forgotten the red-letter date.

Perhaps there's even an archive tape somewhere of an Israeli radio commentator exulting: "St Patrick, your boys took a hell of beating "

Israel's current position atop Group Four alongside Ireland suggests the locals should be somewhat more complacent these days about international success, but the feeling persists that Kerr's team will present them with their most formidable opposition yet in the qualifying campaign.

Still, precisely how Kerr plans to go about the task remains a mystery for now.

"Will everybody play on Saturday?" a local journalist asked the manager yesterday.

"No, just 11," Kerr quipped, adding that he knew the side he intended to play but wasn't going to reveal it.

"The media's usual training pastime of 'spot the starting eleven' didn't get us very far, although there is always the temptation to try to read too much into curious cameos.

Like, hey, there's Graham Kavanagh and Kenny Cunningham playing keepy-uppy together while the rest run through collective routines. Could that mean anything? Or is there any significance in the fact that Andy Reid is bending free-kicks at a goal protected by John O'Shea?

No, perhaps not, although there are some of us who feel that injury concerns aside the question of whether to play Reid or Steve Finnan on the right side of midfield is the only critical one facing Kerr.

That said, the manager's comments earlier this week to the effect that there might be a couple of surprises in his line-up has kept the speculation running at fever pitch, especially in the absence yesterday of any formal press conference in the Irish camp.

Could the Irish boss be planning a departure from the tried and tested or is he indulging in his first serious bout of mind games, in order to keep Avraham Grant on the back foot?

Appropriately Tel Aviv was yesterday celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim, when locals don masks and fancy dress, and what you see is not necessarily what you get.

But the city has certainly put on its best face for the Irish, with tricolours and Israeli flags lining Hakaron Street, the coastal thoroughfare which runs the length of town, just a few hundred yards from where white breakers roll in from the sea and crash onto a long expanse of sand.

Even this early in the year, a good number of surfers, swimmers and plain old sun-worshippers bring a summer holiday feel to the place, but when a taxi driver en route to the training ground points out a beach club where more than 20 died in a bomb explosion two years ago, you're suddenly reminded of how fragile peace in this little bit of paradise can be.

Happily, for locals and visitors alike, the mood so far has been relaxed and friendly, with security present but discreet, as the build-up intensifies ahead of Ireland's date with World Cup destiny in the Raman Gat stadium tomorrow night.