Football / World Cup: Kernaghan and McGrath team up to tackle Latvia

TRADITION in these parts has it that a visit which begins in rain is sure to end on a happy note. Accordingly, Jack Charlton's Republic of Ireland, never ones to suffer Graham Taylor-style negativity, are doubly confident they can overcome Latvia in Group Three tonight and move a step nearer the World Cup finals.

Things are set fair for them, and even the fright they experienced in Albania a fortnight ago before retrieving a 1-0 deficit is being turned to advantage here, as a reminder of what the boys in green are good at and what they must continue to do.

'When you push up with a square back four, we need our front men to put their back four players under pressure when they have the ball,' Charlton said. 'In that regard our strikers have an important job. We failed to do it in Tirana. Nor was our final ball good enough.'

As expected Paul McGrath has been forgiven for his failure to turn up last time, claiming he was not in the right frame of mind. Charlton has let McGrath know that he cannot afford to be so unprofessional again but the manager knows his team can only benefit from the considerable presence of the Aston Villa defender.

Alan Kernaghan, of Middlesbrough, will play alongside McGrath, with Kevin Moran dropping out. 'Alan is only 25 and will be with us for a long time - it was the only decision I had to make,' Charlton said. 'Kevin has done remarkably well over the years and he is certainly not being written off.'

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (v Latvia, World Cup Group Three, Riga, tonight): Bonner (Celtic); Irwin (Manchester United), Phelan (Manchester City), Townsend (Chelsea), McGrath (Aston Villa), Kernaghan (Middlesbrough), Houghton (Aston Villa), Keane (Nottingham Forest), Quinn (Manchester City), Aldridge (Tranmere Rovers), Staunton (Aston Villa).

----------------------------------------------------------------- WORLD CUP GROUP THREE ----------------------------------------------------------------- P W D L F A Pts Spain 9 5 3 1 18 2 13 Denmark 8 4 4 0 9 1 12 Rep of Ireland 7 4 3 0 12 2 11 Nth Ireland 9 4 2 3 11 11 10 Lithuania 9 2 3 4 8 14 7 Latvia 10 0 5 5 4 17 5 Albania 10 1 2 7 5 20 4 -----------------------------------------------------------------