Domestic Bliss?

Giovanni Trapattoni’s decision to travel to the North next Tuesday to watch Pat Fenlon's Irish Under-23 side in action against their northern counterparts is a welcome development for Irish football. Trapattoni and Marco Tardelli will have a chance to scan an eye over the current cream of the crop of Irish domestic football with a squad composed completely of Eircom League players.

Hopefully the likes of Dave Mooney from Cork City and Mark Quigley from St. Pat’s will put in decent performances and demonstrate the undoubted talent currently plying their trade in the Eircom League. It is unlikely that most of the players on view would have the sufficient quality necessary to elevate themselves to the full international setup. But if stories circulating about the potential legion of withdrawals from the upcoming training camp in the Algarve are to be believed then it is quite possible one or maybe two domestic players could be called upon.

These are exciting days for Irish soccer. A new management team with an experienced and successful manager at the helm has re-ignited the public’s hopes of possibly qualifying for the World cup in South Africa in 2010. Trapattoni needs to build on the feel-good factor surrounding Irish football. A couple of encouraging performances in the upcoming friendlies against Serbia and Colombia will provide the Italian with the foundations to build for a successful World Cup qualifying campaign.