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Giovanni Trapattoni jokes with Robbie Keane in Malahide
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Republic of Ireland skipper Robbie Keane was able to train this morning before flying out to Armenia.
The Tottenham striker, who trained wearing a knee brace on Tuesday, completed the session at Malahide without the support.
Richard Dunne again sat out training with a muscle injury, while he was joined on the sidelines by Darren O'Dea, who yesterday underwent a scan on a sprained knee.
However, both men are to travel with manager Giovanni Trapattoni optimistic that Dunne in particular will be able to resume training tomorrow ahead of Friday night's opening Euro 2012 qualifier in Yerevan.
Meanwhile, Kevin Kilbane believes nothing less than six points will do from their two opening Euro 2012 qualifiers.
Minnows Armenia and Andorra provide the opposition for Giovanni Trapattoni's side over the next week and Kilbane says the squad are confident of winning the first games on the road to Poland and Ukraine.
However, the 33-year-old, who can win his 105th cap against Armenia on Friday, has warned his team-mates that they will have to perform close to their best to get the campaign off to a winning start.
Kilbane said: 'It will be a hostile environment to play in (in Yerevan) and I think it will be a difficult match for us. They will have real good support. We know that if we are not quite at it we cood get beaten. We could get turned over.
'If we play like we did in the last campaign, then we definitely have a chance of going there and getting off to a good start.
'Six points is something that we can achieve. We are capable of getting it. I think the key to this game is going into it with the right mindset and being prepared for what is ahead of us.
'It is a tough start, but we are confident we can go there and win the game.'
This will be Kilbane's eighth qualifying campaign since he made his debut in a World Cup qualifier against Iceland in September 1997.
However, his only tournament appearance was at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea and he is eager to get to another showpiece before he hangs up his boots.
The performances of the previous campaign have raised the expectations of fans and the belief of the players, but the veteran defender highlighted Russia as the team to be feared in Group B.
'We feel as though we have a got a real chance of qualifying for a tournament now', he said. 'The last campaign has given us real belief that we can go on and do it.
'We are probably at a higher level than the start of the last campaign. We grew as a team during the last campaign.
'We know that Russia are a quality team. We have played against them in previous campaigns and we have not had the best of luck against them, certainly away from home.
'They have real good footballers so they will be a tough team to top, but we feel we have got a chance of doing it.'
Many observers had expected Kilbane to retire from international football after the play-off defeat to France in November and certainly in the bowels of the Stade de France that night he contemplated never wearing the green jersey again.
Ten months on and his desire to represent his country is as strong as ever, but he did admit that he sought advice before committing himself to the cause once again.
He said: 'I did speak to a few people and the advice I was given was "look, if the manager doesn't pick you, then obviously he is going to retire you, so just stay around and see what happens. If the manager is confident in you, he'll pick you".
'That's ultimately what's happened and I'm in the squad again and looking forward to the game on Friday. I want to be in and around this squad.
'No has put me under pressure and saying things like "you need to finish this now", because everyone knows how much it means to me coming over and playing . hopefully I'll be around to see us through to a major tournament again.'