WHEN ASSESSING THE standard of our international team, pundits often point out that Ireland have a limited pool of players to choose from.
However, perhaps Giovanni Trapattoni is not as restricted as some people would assume.
Below is an entire squad of players (plus a few more on standby) who are not especially inferior to those in the current squad.
However, owing to a mixture of injuries and falling out of favour, they will not feature against Austria tomorrow night.
Accordingly, it’s even possible to argue that Trap has the most extensive group of viable players ever for an Ireland manager to choose from, if not the most talented.
Read on, and let us know if you agree, or if we’ve unjustly left someone out.
Goalkeeper: Paddy Kenny (Leeds)
Right back: Steven Reid (West Brom)
Centre back: Alex Pearce (Reading)
Centre back: Richard Dunne (Aston Villa)
Left back: Joey O’Brien (West Ham)
Right wing: Aiden McGeady (Spartak Moscow)
Central midfielder: Darron Gibson (Everton)
Central midfielder: David Meyler (Hull)
Left wing: Anthony Pilkington (Norwich)
Striker: Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy)
Striker: Noel Hunt (Reading)
Subs: Joe Murphy (Coventry), Ian Harte (Reading), Shane Duffy (Everton), Kevin Foley (Wolves), Enda Stevens (Aston Villa), Andy Reid (Nottingham Forest), Stephen Ireland (Aston Villa), Anthony Stokes (Celtic), Leon Best (Blackburn), Keith Andrews (Bolton), Stephen Hunt (Wolves).
On standby: Stephen Henderson (West Ham), Cillian Sheridan (Kilmarnock), Paul McShane (Hull), Stephen Ward (Wolves), Keith Fahey (Birmingham).
