Walters gets rub of the green

IT’S been the best part of a decade since Jonathan Walters declared for the country of his mother’s birth rather than that of his own but it is only now that the love is being reciprocated.

With Kevin Doyle suspended, Shane Long injured and doubts over the availability of Leon Best for a combination of reasons, Giovanni Trapattoni will be looking to either the Stoke City striker or Simon Cox to partner Robbie Keane in Tallinn on Friday.

Second-guessing the Ireland manager is a fool’s errand — understanding him has been hard enough — but the Italian talked positively and at length about Walters at yesterday’s briefing, which makes a change for a player that had become accustomed to the international wilderness.