Andrews and Duff named in Ireland squad

Four players who missed Ireland’s first two fixtures through injury, have been named in the squad to face Russia and Slovakia.

Keith Andrews, Damien Duff, Darren O’Dea and Keith Treacy return, after being absent from Ireland’s wins against Armenia and Andorra.

CSKA Sofia’s Cillian Sheridan has also been named in the squad.

“We go into these qualifiers with six points from six in the opening games of the campaign in September,” Manager Giovanni Trapattoni said.

“We performed well against Armenia and Andorra and we will build on these good results in our next games against Russia and Slovakia.

“These teams are the top seeds in the group and they will be looking to take three points from us to kickstart their Euro campaigns.

“But we have prepared well and will not make it easy for them as we continue to lay the foundations to qualify for the European Championship finals.”

Republic of Ireland (v Russia and Slovakia):

Shay Given (Manchester City), Keiren Westwood (Coventry), Joe Murphy (Scunthorpe)

John O’Shea (Manchester United), Richard Dunne (Aston Villa), Sean St Ledger (Preston), Greg Cunningham (Manchester City), Kevin Foley (Wolves), Stephen Kelly (Fulham), Paul McShane (Hull), Darren O’Dea (Ipswich); Kevin Kilbane (Hull)

Keith Andrews (Blackburn), Glenn Whelan (Stoke), Darron Gibson (Manchester United), Paul Green (Derby), Liam Lawrence (Portsmouth), Aiden McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Andy Keogh (Cardiff), Damien Duff (Fulham), Keith Fahey (Birmingham), Keith Treacy (Preston);

Robbie Keane (Tottenham), Kevin Doyle (Wolves), Shane Long (Reading), Cillian Sheridan (CSKA Sofia)

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