Rich pickings on austere stage

They’re billing it as the austerity friendly but tonight’s game against Greece could yet prove rich in potential for a couple of emerging players and rising stars in their attempts to secure a more meaningful involvement when Ireland’s World Cup campaign resumes next March.

While James McCarthy already appears to have a head start, for Shane Long, Seamus Coleman, James McClean, Robbie Brady and Ciaran Clark — all of whom feature in the starting 11 this evening — it’s a final chance in 2012 to convince Giovanni Trapattoni that they are equipped to help him change the complexion of his team.

For Clark, in particular, the stakes are high, given that questions marks must persist about Richard Dunne’s ability to reclaim his place after such a long absence, so late in his career, through a complicated groin injury which has required two operations.