Carr drives straight into Irish squad

Republic of Ireland coach Mick McCarthy has named Tottenham Hotspur FC full-back Stephen Carr in his first post-FIFA World Cup squad for the friendly against Finland on 21 August.

Knee injury
Carr, who has not played international football for a year due to a serious knee injury, is one of six players in the party who did not make the trip to Korea/Japan, where Ireland made the second round before losing to Spain on penalties.

Keane excluded
Former captain Roy Keane is not included, and McCarthy has admitted that the Manchester United FC midfield player is not in his future plans after the pair's row that saw the skipper sent home on the eve of the finals. Other familiar names missing are goalkeeper Alan Kelly, defender and World Cup captain Steve Staunton and striker Niall Quinn, who have all retired from international football, and injured striker David Connolly.

Scottish-based pair
Given their chance are Hibernian FC goalkeeper Nick Colgan and Celtic FC midfield player Colin Healy - the only two non-English-based squad members - and fellow returnees Rory Delap of Southampton FC, versatile Tottenham defender Gary Doherty and Millwall FC's Richard Sadlier. Leeds United AFC midfield player Stephen McPhail is also back in the squad after a year's absence.

EURO 2004™ campaign
The match in Helsinki will act as a warm-up for Ireland's EURO 2004™ qualifying campaign, in which they meet Albania, Georgia, Russia and Switzerland. No captain has yet been announced for the campaign, but Kenny Cunningham, now of Birmingham City FC, and new West Ham United FC signing Gary Breen are favourites.

Republic of Ireland squad
Given, Kiely, Colgan, Harte, Dunne, Breen, O'Brien, Kelly, Cunningham, Finnan, Carr, McAteer, Holland, Kilbane, Reid, Healy, Kinsella, Carsley, Delap, Keane, Morrison, Duff, McPhail, Sadlier, Doherty.