Stephen focussed and back in the Hunt for first team action

HE’S back, as bubbly as ever and determined to make up for lost time. But it looks as if Stephen Hunt will have to show some more patience before he gets to pull on the green shirt again.

With Giovanni Trapattoni starting Damien Duff on the left against Norway tonight, Aiden McGeady standing by and Keith Treacy also likely to come off the bench, it seems Hunt’s international exile could continue for a while longer.

It’s been a year since Hunt last won a cap, when he came off the bench as an 80th minute sub in the first leg of Ireland’s World Cup play-off against France at Croke Park last November. Four days later, on a night of huge controversy in Paris, there was only frustration to add to the heartbreak for Hunt as he failed to see any action in the second-leg game which ended Ireland’s World Cup dream.