The rocky road to Rio starts here for Trap’s men

With Shay Given gone and uncertainty still surrounding the international futures of Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and Richard Dunne, tonight’s friendly against Serbia at Red Star Belgrade’s Marakana Stadium might offer a glimpse of a different future for Ireland.

But, while the starting line-up is novel, the formation — at least at the start — will be entirely familiar, Giovanni Trapattoni opting for a 4-4-2 deployment of Keiren Westwood, Paul McShane, John O’Shea, Darren O’Dea and Stephen Kelly across the back, Aiden McGeady, James McCarthy, Glenn Whelan and James McClean across the middle, and Jon Walters and Shane Long upfront.

“This friendly is a good opportunity to see some of the new players and to give them a chance to prove that they can be part of the national team,” said the manager yesterday.