Trap says Hoolahan in midfield frame for Faroes

The FAI performed their own version of the loaves and fishes at Lansdowne Road last night, announcing an official crowd of 21,100 for this friendly against Georgia when a head count would have stopped some distance short.

Of more importance was how Giovanni Trapattoni’s options for next Friday’s World Cup qualifier seemed to multiply on the back of a 4-0 win that was every bit as easy as it sounds thanks to the visitors’ numerical disadvantage for 70 of the 90 minutes.

“I am happy with the result,” said the Italian. “I said this morning to the team the importance of the game against Georgia after the game in England. We could not underestimate Georgia. We started a bit nervous in the first 10 minutes.

“We were missing some passes, Shane Long could have scored a goal. Their goalkeeper made a mistake and then it was 10 against 11. We had more facility to achieve the result but we increased our personality.

“James McCarthy improved again and played very, very well today. I give him my congratulations because he played with personality. He can grow again. Also the second half, Stephen Quinn.

“It is a good result for the future. It gives us more concrete possibilities. The team can achieve against the Faroes and we will see in the friendly against Spain in the future when I can evaluate more.”

Trapattoni was right to pick McCarthy out for praise, but the Wigan Athletic midfielder will be suspended later this week (along with Shane Long) when the Faroes come to Dublin so it was inevitable that the first question centred on his central midfield partner last night.

Trapattoni has had to contend with any number of cause célèbres during his time in Ireland and Wes Hoolahan’s name is being pushed forward for promotion most prominently right now. The man whose Twitter handle once said something about having played a few minutes for Ireland won his fifth cap last night alongside McCarthy in an orthodox 4-4-2 and hardly did his chances of further engagement any harm.

So, Trap, what about him?

“Wes, we know Wes,” he said. “It was important to see him in midfield with McCarthy and how he handled the situation physically.It was clear also he gave two or three very important passes. We can trust him for the future.”

And would that future include a starting slot against the Faroes?

“We can think about this,” was as far as the boss would venture.

Trapattoni was able to confirm that David Forde, Jonathan Walters and Sean St Ledger are all available for the Faroes game after sitting out training on Saturday, while everyone else came through last night’s stroll unharmed.

Richard Dunne was among them, according to Trapattoni, who admitted the defender was a live option for next Friday around about the same time the Dubliner was telling other reporters that he would first see a doctor today before any decision was made.

It is an understandably cautious approach from a man who was playing his first game of football in close to a year and the disparity between his and his manager’s take on his state of readiness a discordant note of only minor proportions. This was an evening for happy subplots whether it was Dunne’s return, a first senior start and goal for Richard Keogh or Robbie Keane’s brace on the occasion when he matched Shay Given’s national record of 125 caps.

“Robbie was destined to do this,” said Trapattoni. “He started to play at 18-years old. He was the young creative player of Ireland. He played for the famous teams in Italy, Tottenham in England. Now he continues to show us his qualities.

“There are players who have the feel for the goal. Robbie is one of these players.”