Testing questions and limited options for Staunton

PARTLY out of choice and partly because his hand was forced by a combination of injuries and retirements, there is certainly a fresh green look to Steve Staunton's first Republic of Ireland squad, announced in Dublin on Thursday morning.

You could almost hear the sigh of relief from the top table and all around the room - at last, we could all get down to talking footballers and football.

Inevitably, the response has been generally positive, as the headlines make merry with lines about youth, fresh blood and the new wave of Irish football. Which is fair enough - a ball has not been kicked in anger yet nor even a training bib stained and, as is the case on the eve of a new season in club football, at this point all teams are equal and everything seems possible.

Any doubts there might be would also tend to be curbed by the memory of Alan Hansen famously putting his foot in his mouth by confidently declaring that "you cannae win anything with kids." Manchester United duly went on to ram that foot even further down his throat, albeit with probably the most exceptional crop of youngsters to have emerged at Old Trafford since the Busby Babes.

No-one would seriously claim that Steve Staunton has overnight unearthed a crop of world-beaters, and while there are a couple of eye-catching prospects in his uncapped selections, the reality is that he will be urgently looking to blend old and new in a bid to strike the most productive balance possible for his transitional Irish team.

It won't be an easy job. At opposite ends of the pitch, things look very encouraging; elsewhere there can be no great certainty that Ireland's immediate football future will reap any great rewards.

At the very back, the elevation of Wayne Henderson to the third goalkeeping slot is unlikely to have more than a cosmetic impact on the European Championships, with Shay Given and, behind him, Paddy Kenny, first and second in line for the number one slot.

This week Staunton spoke of how blessed Ireland are with the quality of our under-age goalkeepers, but contenders old and new will have to go a long way to shift the peerless Given, whose consistently vital role in the Irish team is set to be officially enshrined when Staunton hands him the captaincy.

Things look pretty good in front of the other goal too. Robbie Keane and Clinton Morrison have both been back on the goal trail recently at Spurs and Crystal Palace, and while the latter ships a lot of unfair criticism, it's worth remembering that even when he was left out at Birmingham City he continued to perform well in the green shirt, hence his two goals - against Israel and China - to Keane's one, which is in the final shortlist for the international goal of the year competition, the winner of which will be announced tomorrow week.

Stephen Elliott has already shown his prowess at this level and the hope is that Kevin Doyle can also transfer his rich form from the Championship to the international arena. Then there's Alan Lee, whose recall was blocked only by a late injury, but the Ipswich man was this week described by Staunton as being the kind of "big, awkward lad defenders hate to play against" - in short, a potential target man of the type that Jack Charlton and Mick McCarthy had in Cascarino and Quinn.

Finally, with Lee Trundle also waiting in the wings, there would seem to be a decent range of options up-front for Staunton, though one suspects that, as much as anyone, he will hope that Robbie Keane takes up where he left off when breaking through the Irish goalscoring record.

So things look pretty good at the very back and at the very front. But, elsewhere, the new manager is faced with some testing questions and a limited range of options from which to choose the answers.

That applies particularly to the centre-back and centre-middle spine of the team. In midfield, Stephen Ireland, Joey O'Brien, Jonathan Douglas and Liam Miller could all legitimately look to stake a claim, but even for the most exciting of those prospects - like young Ireland - the step up from club to international level would be hugely demanding.

Of the older guard, Staunton could perm any two from Kavanagh, Kilbane, O'Shea and Stephen Reid but no matter how you reckon it, those holes in the shape of Roy Keane and Matt Holland, remain glaring.

Similarly, Kenny Cunningham's retirement coupled with the absence of any convincing newcomer in the centre-half role, leaves a worry about the heart of the defence. At 26, Manchester City's Richard Dunne could finally make one of these positions his own, and even become one of the dominant Irish players of the next few years, but between Andy O'Brien, Gary Breen and, at a stretch, John O'Shea, you could hardly say that the new manager is spoiled for choice.

Ultimately, the old boys rather than the new boys could be the ones making the headlines a little further down the line, especially if Stephen Carr returns to the side and finds his best form again. Whatever, where there's Duff and Keane and Given there's hope enough, and always the possibility that someone like Stephen Ireland might yet take the side by the scruff of the neck, though the realistic assumption must be that, if it happens at all, it will be later rather than sooner.

Interesting and even exciting times for Ireland and Steve Staunton, then. But nervous times too.