In what may be a hint of a shift in emphasis in the Irish camp ahead of tomorrow's opening European Championships qualifier against Croatia, Ireland Under-21 manager Ian Evans has reverted to the use of wingbacks for his own side's opening game of the new campaign this evening.
Evans said yesterday the switch had been prompted by one or two things that he had seen in training but "it also fitted in with the way that Mick had asked me to prepare them".
After tinkering with his line-ups against the Czechs, Scots and Northern Irish late last season, Evans has opted for a relatively experienced side, with Cork City's Derek Coughlan, who has made an outstanding start to the season at club level, the only new cap.
"We've done a bit of experimenting in the last few games, especially the Czech one, but I'm very anxious to qualify for these finals. That's the priority from now on and we'll be putting out the strongest possible sides for every game."
Aside from Coughlan, Thomas Morgan of St Patrick's Athletic is the only other National League player to make the starting lineup, while West Brom's Kevin Kilbane, the best known of the English-based players, has been handed a more defensive role than usual, slotting in as the left-sided wing back.
Alex O`Reilly, an under-21 international before Brian Kerr brought him into the under-18 fold for the European Championships in Cyprus, will pick up his second cap at this level tonight - "basically," says Evans, "because he's playing more at the moment, which gives him a bit of an edge of Derek (O'Connor)".
The Croatian squad is, like the senior squad, largely home-based, with only Vicenza'a Goran Tomic and Dario Smoje of Milan playing their football in a foreign league.
Predictably, the country's leading club, Croatia Zagreb, is well represented. Their five players include Josip Simic, one of the club's senior team that recently dumped Celtic out of the Champions League.
IRELAND: O'Reilly (West Ham); Ryan (Millwall), Worrell (Blackburn Rovers), Coughlan (Cork City); Boxall (Brentford), Morgan (St Patrick's Athletic), Mahon (Tranmere), Inman (Peter borough), Kilbane (West Brom); Clare (Grim sby), Conlon (Manchester City).
Northern Ireland Under-21 manager Chris Nicholl is unhappy with the venue for tonight's European Championship qualifier against Turkey.
The pitch at the Ismet Pasa Stadium in Cocaeli is so poor that Nicholl did not let his players train on it last night.
"Another problem is the distance from the team hotel in Istanbul to the ground," Nicholl said.
"It took us an hour and three quarters to get there and the ground is supposed to be within a radius of 40 miles of here."
Goalkeeper Roy Carroll is expected to shrug off a knee strain but Ipswich winger Sean Friars is doubtful because of a thigh problem.
