Ireland’s wing wonders

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI called back his wide men for some extra tuition at the end of training in Malahide yesterday, Damien Duff, Aiden McGeady, Stephen Hunt and Liam Lawrence gathering around their manager in the centre circle while the rest of the squad made their way to the bus.

It was a sight which seemed to confirm the widely-held view that Trapattoni’s only real selection puzzler concerns who will start on the flanks against France on Saturday.

Despite his recent injury worries, it’s hard to see how the returning Duff’s trickery, ability to win frees and huge experience would be overlooked for such a big game, meaning that the key issue is who will play on the opposite wing. Up until the 2-2 draw with Italy, it would have been a straight choice between McGeady and Hunt for that position but the impressive performance of Lawrence in that game has bumped the Stoke City man well up the pecking order. Bearing in mind too, that Lawrence’s selection against the Italians was in part designed to curb the attacking threat of full-back Fabio Grosso, Trapattoni must be seriously considering asking for ‘the same again, please’ in the face of the similar challenge likely to be posed by Manchester United’s Patrice Evra in Croke Park.