Better late than never

IF GIOVANNI Trapattoni could just bottle Damien Delaney’s enthusiasm he’d be at least halfway to qualifying the Republic of Ireland for the next World Cup.

“Brilliant, I love being involved,” says the 27 year-old from Cork on retaining his place in Trapattoni’s squad. “I’m very passionate, want to do very well, so hopefully I’ll get a chance.”

The tall QPR full-back has every reason to feel positive, given that he wasn’t even in the Italian’s original squad of 40 for the training camp in Portugal and the games against Serbia and Colombia. But with Marco Tardelli having watched him a couple of times in the blue and white hoops, suddenly Delaney was on the list when the numbers were whittled down to 27.