Trap calls up Doyle and Henderson for Sofia

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI has called two goalkeepers into the Republic of Ireland squad ahead of the World Cup qualifier against Bulgaria on Saturday June 6.

Wayne Henderson and Colin Doyle arrived in London last night to join up with the squad which travel to Sofia on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Richard Dunne has praised the newcomers who were selected by Trapattoni for the 1-1 draw against Nigeria.

“It was a good game, the lads who came into the team, every one of them, can be proud of how they played,” says Dunne. “They were brilliant. As a squad, we now know we have six new members we can call upon.

“I think the game will have helped them and they’ll learn from the experience. You know yourself, the manager has said that it might be a completely different team next week. But we always know that we’ve got players to back us up who have played games and have the experience.”

Dunne was particularly taken with his partner at the back against Nigeria, Preston’s Sean St Ledger.

“He was excellent,” he says. “He talked all the way through the game, he felt really comfortable to play along side. He looked like he’d been there for ages.”

Dunne also feels the exercise was useful in ensuring players are in optimum condition for next Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Bulgaria in Sofia.

“Yes, probably even more so for the Championship lads who haven’t played for a while,” he points out. “It’s been a good week, and hopefully it will put us into good shape for next week.”

That’s especially important going into a qualifying game which comes at what even Giovanni Trapattoni has acknowledged is a difficult time in the season.

“A win next Saturday will go a long way towards helping us qualify,” says Dunne. “So it’s not as if it’s a pain that the season is dragging on. This is another game, the final one of the season and we want to go out on a high. We feel if we win that, it gives us a great chance of qualifying.”

The Irish squad reconvene in London today after their weekend break, basing themselves at Arsenal’s training ground before flying out to Sofia on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s crunch game.

Meanwhile, Sean Scannell is in danger of risking injury according to Crystal Palace boss Neil Warnock and the Eagles have asked Ireland to withdraw him from the UEFA U-19 Championships.

Scannell is still recovering from a recent hernia operation that saw him miss the last two games of the Championship season, but manager Sean McCaffrey included the London-born 18-year-old in the squad for the Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden games which run from Friday to next Wednesday.

Warnock said: “Sean has not done any football – condition-wise or game-wise – since February and while his hernia is mended our physio department think there is a risk he could injure something else.

“You wouldn’t put a footballer without any football into this situation and we’ve asked them to send him home.

“We’re big allies of the Republic but it is ridiculous if they think about playing him at the moment. They have three matches in the space of a week and we’ve made our views clear so we’ll now have to see what happens.”