Lesser lights must step up

Necessity has proved to be the mother of invention for Giovanni Trapattoni who has been forced by an injury crisis to set out a radically altered team in a fresh formation for tonight’s World Cup qualifier against Germany at the Aviva Stadium.

Having already lost certain starters Richard Dunne, Sean St Ledger and Glenn Whelan to injury, the manager yesterday confirmed that skipper and record goalscorer Robbie Keane is also consigned to sick bay (And, just for the record — and contrary to the impression given two days ago by Marco Tardelli — it appears to have been a training ground challenge involving David Meyler, not Paul McShane, which saw the LA Galaxy man aggravate the Achilles problem which keeps him out of tonight’s game).

Trapattoni yesterday acknowledged that with the exit of Keane goes some of the “personality and experience” the manager values so highly, while he also noted the psychological advantage lost when the opposition doesn’t have to worry about “the famous players”.