‘Trap had only eyes for seniors’

Ireland U21 manager Noel King may have delivered a glowing epitaph of Giovanni Trapattoni’s impact but his deputy, Harry McCue, yesterday laid bare the Italian’s disinterest in any tier beneath the senior fold.

McCue, preferred to U19 chief Paul Doolin as U21 caretaker manager when the FAI last week installed King to see out the senior squad’s dismal World Cup qualification campaign, didn’t waver in criticising Trapattoni.

For while most managers of senior international squad are conscious of what’s coming up the ranks – such as Roy Hodgson who actually managed the U21s against Scotland in August – Ireland’s supremo chose to completely ignore it.