Defiant Trap vows to fight on

If Ireland beat the Faroe Islands tomorrow night — and nobody is now considering that a foregone conclusion — then Giovanni Trapattoni will continue in his role as manager for the time being but, barring an unlikely turnaround in team fortunes, it is impossible to imagine the 73-year-old seeing out the World Cup campaign.

Anything less than three points in Torshavn, however, and the pressure on the FAI to act immediately will be overwhelming — especially since the manager himself insists that he would not be prepared to jump first.

“Why should I resign?” he asked on Saturday. “We would still have seven games left.”