Don’t worry about Doyle this summer, insists Ward

This has been a season to forget for Kevin Doyle but Stephen Ward has dismissed concerns over his club-mate’s form ahead of next month’s European Championships.

Doyle’s season with relegated Wolves has been blighted by a succession of minor injuries, he has had to plug a hole on the team’s right wing and endured times when he has simply been out of favour. His sum total of four goals thus far says it all.

It is far from an ideal run-in to the championships in Poland for a player who has developed into one of the key cogs in Giovanni Trapattoni’s Ireland team alongside Robbie Keane and one who has 10 international goals to his name.