Summer in Dublin for Trapattoni’s boys in green

UNLESS the Irish summer surprises us all, there will be no warm-weather training camp for the boys in green this year.

Instead, Giovanni Trapattoni will gather the troops at Malahide between May 16 and 21 ahead of the back-to-back friendly games against Paraguay and Algeria at the RDS.

Two years ago, the manager took the squad to a training camp on the Algrave, as Steve Staunton had done before him so, on the face of it, the decision to stay at home this year looks as if the recession is biting for the international team as for everyone else.