King wary of Faroes ambush

Far away from Cardiff City Stadium tonight, there’s serious business to attend to in the Faroe Islands for Ireland U21s as they start a campaign which manager Noel King hopes culminates at the 2015 European Championships in the Czech Republic.

King, in his first full campaign at the helm, narrowly missed out on a play-off last year and knows that nothing less than three points in Toftir tonight will suffice against the group’s bottom seeds if they’re to challenge Germany, Montenegro and Romania for qualification.

Despite a couple of absentees through suspension, Anthony Forde and Derrick Williams, and Giovanni Trapattoni’s reluctance to allow the still-eligible Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick step back from senior duty to the U21s, King believes his squad would suffer the fate of Russia and Denmark who left the Islands red-faced having dropped points in recent campaigns.

“The Faroes see us as a target and will want to cause damage,” said King following the squad’s final training session on the eve of the fixture. “They’ll be a well-organised unit with a game-plan to hit us with their pace and skill. However, ours is a new squad, primarily comprised of players who reached the Uefa U19 championship semi-finals two years ago, so they know how to get results in the most difficult of circumstances.”

One of those challenges posed will be his squad’s ability to overcome the artificial surface at the Toftir Stadium which served the natives so well in a 2-2 draw against the Romanians. “The all-weather pitch is going to benefit them more than us,” noted Matt Doherty, the Wolves defender expected to operate as a holding midfielder tonight. “Of course, we’ve played on them sometimes but the Faroes use it all the time.”

Indeed, apart from two Danish-based players, one each at Brondby IF and FC Midtjylland, all of the Faroes’ squad operate on a part-time basis in their domestic league. King has no injury concerns, meaning Everton’s centre-back Shane Duffy will captain his country for the first time in a competitive fixture while his fellow Derry native Barry McNamee is poised to make his maiden start in midfield.

IRELAND (probable): A McCarey (Wolves); M Harriman (Gillingham), S Duffy (Everton), A O’Connor (Blackburn Rovers), S McGinty (Sheffield United); M Doherty (Wolves), C Reilly (Birmingham City); S Murray (Watford), S Carruthers (MK Dons), B McNamee (Derry City); A O’Brien (Millwall).