Whelan targets Stoke first team return

GLENN WHELAN reckons he must be one of the freshest players in the Irish camp this week.

But, joking aside, the out of favour Stoke City midfielder is desperate to get back playing first team football, not least because he worries that his current club predicament could jeopardise his Ireland place.

“The manager (Giovanni Trapattoni) hasn’t said anything to me but I know myself,” says Whelan. “I’m not stupid and if you’re not playing week in, week out, you’re going to lose your match sharpness. I need to get playing as soon as possible. Come next year if I’m not playing I can’t really see these international chances coming around because there will be other lads playing and they will have a fighting chance of getting into the squad.

“It’s difficult coming in when you haven’t been playing but I want to try and improve and do well for Ireland. Hopefully if I do well for my country the manager at Stoke (Tony Pulis) will take a bit of notice and realise that I can get back to good form and get back in the team.”

And if he doesn’t?

“We’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. I want to be involved with Ireland as much as I can. If it means I move on and leave the club, so be it. But I’m not thinking about that now, I’m thinking about getting into the team and going from there.”

Whelan, along with fellow international Keith Fahey, was speaking in the Darndale & Belcamp Recreation Centre, Dublin at the launch of the Late Night League programme. The league takes place in disadvantaged areas and 1,050 young people participated in the first half of this year. The Garda Síochána, who are heavily involved in the programme which is organised by the FAI and local councils, have reported that anti-social behaviour call-outs were reduced by 51% in Ballymun and 52% in Tallaght West when the programme was running.