Keane joins squad, but Trap taking no chances

Robbie Keane flew in from Los Angeles to link up with the Irish squad at their Portmarnock Hotel base yesterday and, after a night of rest, will undergo careful scrutiny by the medical team this morning to determine how his pulled hamstring is recovering.

Confidence is high that the skipper’s problem is a minor one, though it remains to be seen if Giovanni Trapattoni will consider him fit enough to take part in Saturday’s friendly game against Bosnia at the Aviva Stadium.

For obvious reasons, the manager will not be taking any chances with one of his key personnel for the finals.

Meanwhile, there were positive reports on the progress of injury worries John O’Shea, Keith Fahey and Kevin Foley — all of whom are now expected to be fit for selection on Saturday — as the squad made two appearances at Gannon Park yesterday, first for a short aerobics session in the glorious morning sunshine and, later, for a full work-out with the ball.

Part of the current training strategy, explained assistant manager Marco Tardelli, is psychological.

“We need them to be out on the pitch or in the gym,” he said. “It helps us to create the right group spirit. All day in bed is not good. Right now, they just need to recover and to work but not very hard.”

Nevertheless, Tardelli doesn’t want the players to hold back in Saturday’s farewell friendly before the team leave Dublin for their training camp in Italy the following day. It’s a game, he insisted, which the Irish cannot afford to take lightly.

“I need the players to play very tough against Bosnia because Bosnia are a very tough team with skilful players,” he said. “We need to win, because it is important for the ranking and important for morale.

“We see the players at the moment very focused on what they are doing because they know that the Euros are very important for us, the country and the people. I see the smiles on their faces and I think that that’s good for us.”