O’Brien: We know what we have to do

THE HEAT IS ON.

And if there was ever any doubt, as Ireland's World Cup campaign addresses the point of no return, confirmation came here in Limassol yesterday as the temperature climbed to a high of 30 degrees.

The sun was already scorching down from a blue sky as the Republic of Ireland squad sweated during morning training at the local Tsirion Stadium.

It's become a cliché now to say that manager Brian Kerr is feeling the heat but yesterday he felt it sufficiently to take the practical step of canceling this morning's repeat session at the same venue.

Instead, the Irish squad will train in the relative cool of the evening, when they travel the 80 kilometres for an 8pm appointment at the match stadium in Nicosia.

"A few of us weighed ourselves before training and once you put enough fluid back in, it's okay," said Portsmouth's Andy O'Brien.

"I don't think the heat will be that much of a factor because of the evening kick-off tomorrow night.

"When you're concentrated on the job you have to do, you can't use it as an excuse. We've played in these sorts of circumstances before."

Steven Reid was restricted to a watching brief yesterday, his right foot wrapped in bandages and ice. The player sustained a twist in the ankle on Tuesday which puffed up during the flight to Cyprus.

He insists, however, that the treatment and rest was mainly precautionary, and hopes to take a full part in training this evening.

The Blackburn midfielder is one of Kerr's options on the right side of midfield for tomorrow night's game, with Liverpool's Steve Finnan seemingly fully recovered from a sore knee, also in contention.

But speculation about the line-up for the Cyprus game is precisely all there is to go on. There was no press conference scheduled with the manager yesterday, meaning that it will be this morning before he has his first official meeting with the media since delivering a very brief update on Wednesday in Malahide.

Meanwhile, the players are keeping their eyes firmly on the prize.

"It's going to be a difficult game, we don't expect anything less," says Andy O'Brien. "But we've got to concentrate on ourselves.

"We know what we have to do get six points out of the next two games. That's our target and, however the group turns out, in terms of how other countries do, is irrelevant. We know what we've got to do and we're in a good frame of mind.

"The job is there in front of us to do. We want to be going back to Dublin with three points and then, hopefully, get a good result against Switzerland as well."

Footballers always prefer to dwell on the promise of the future rather than the harsh realities of the past but, inevitably, O'Brien's attention is drawn once again to the points dropped at home and away to Israel.

"I think we've been unlucky in certain respects, like that last minute goal we conceded against Israel," he says. "Then, prior to the France game, it was a case of waiting for someone to take the group by the scruff of the neck.

"And, to be fair, in that game, there weren't a lot of chances and it was a bit of brilliance that won it for France. But we can't look back and think 'if we'd done this' or 'if we'd done that' we're in the position we're in now, and we know what we've got to do."

But O'Brien isn't going to be allowed to escape the past as easily as that especially since he was the fall-guy for goalkeeper Dudu Aoute's theatrics at Lansdowne Road, resulting in the Portsmouth defender being sent off in the 2-2 draw with Israel, a decision which had long-term consequences for the player.

"Arguably, it's cost me my place," he admits, alluding to the fact that, ever-present in the group until then, he subsequently missed the game in the Faroe Islands and then saw the in-from Richard Dunne claim his berth for the match against France.

A couple of months down the line and O'Brien could be said to be suffering the consequences of someone else's behaviour so, is he bitter?

"There could have been bigger injustices in my life," he says, deadpan. And then, cracking a smile, he adds: "But if I ever see that goalkeeper I'll give it him a piece of my mind."

When the laughter dies down, O'Brien says simply: "It's all part and parcel of the game. You've got to take your disappointments on the chin and hopefully you learn from them."

With two games to go in the group and no wriggle room, O'Brien insists there's no question of the players buckling under the pressure.

"I think the spirit and camaraderie in the team is fantastic," he says. "Everybody wants to train hard, the team spirit is as good as ever and we're determined to get the three points." So no added tension, then?

"With the greatest of respect, I think it's the media who build up quite a lot of tension. As a footballer you've just got to concentrate on winning the next game."

But does the mounting criticism and negative comment make for an us-against-the-world mood in the camp?

"Football's about opinions from the top to the bottom," he reflects. "With all the media and all the ex-footballers giving their opinions, they end up contradicting each other. The game's about results. We know we have to get three points in this game and three in the next to stand us in the best possible position."

Finally, O'Brien politely declines to engage with any question about Brian Kerr's position.

"The situation is nothing to do with the players," he says, "it's the powers above who decides who becomes a manager or who stays a manager. As a player, you've got the duty to do your best for whoever your manager may be, even if circumstances are not favourable towards you, whether at club or international level."