Trap scrambles to find backup keeper
Confusion surrounds Giovanni Trapattoni’s search for a backup goalkeeper for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier with Bulgaria in Sofia.
Having alienated previous backup Dean Kiely through his bizarre choice to start the injury prone Shay Given against Nigeria on Friday, Trapattoni took another swipe at the veteran West Brom striker following Friday’s draw. Although it seems that Trapattoni won’t call on Kiely again, it is unlikely the veteran keeper would wish to come back anyway.
Quoted on the RTE website, Trapattoni’s comments were a thinly veiled dig at the keeper, “We must look at the mentality – not staying at home and resting but being professional”.
Now though it has emerged that Friday’s debut keeper Keiren Westwood will miss Saturday’s game as he is getting married. That leaves Shay Given as the only goalkeeper in the squad for the game that matters in this end of season double.
Candidates for the backup role include Joe Murphy – who won promotion to the English Championship this year and was named in the League One team of the season. He has been capped once. Colin Doyle is another one cap wonder who has linked with a call-up.
Bohemians goalkeeper Brian Murphy is the current League of Ireland player of the year, has won back to back goalkeeper of the year awards and represented Ireland at underage level. However, he is likely to be overlooked and the current managerial regime would probably give more weight to his cause if he wasn’t playing for a lower league English side.
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