O’Shea, McGeady out for Croatia friendly

HE was in, he was out, then he was in and now he’s out again.

John O’Shea’s version of Lanigan’s Ball has concluded with confirmation that the Sunderland defender is out of the friendly game against Croatia in Dublin this day week.

And, as he announced his final 25 man squad for the match, Giovanni Trapattoni revealed that Aiden McGeady, Liam Lawrence, Kevin Kilbane, Paul McShane and Kevin Foley have also withdrawn, with the manager’s blessing. From the original squad of 32, it means that only Aston Villa’s Ciarán Clark has been deliberately left out of the slimmed down panel, apparently on the grounds that Trapattoni intends to look at other options during the game.