Long to partner Keane as Doyle misses out

Along with his 74th birthday cake, Giovanni Trapattoni had plenty of food for thought to digest as St Patrick’s Day in Malahide saw Irish preparations for the World Cup double-header against Sweden and Austria begin, slowly, to swing into action.

And it was the contrasting fortunes of two former Cork City players which dominated the manager’s first press conference of the fortnight, as he explained his reasons for omitting Kevin Doyle from his latest squad and indicated that, if fit, Shane Long is in line to start as a partner to Robbie Keane in Stockholm on Friday.

The West Brom striker’s conditioning remains a concern for Trapattoni. Long was deemed sufficiently recovered from an ankle injury to come off the bench for his club with 15 minutes remaining of their scoreless draw with Stoke City on Saturday but Ireland’s manager says the player will have to be carefully monitored in training over the rest of the week for any sign of a reaction.