Morrison and Reid eager for walk-on roles

Rare is the World Cup side, whether good, bad or somewhere in between, that finishes the tournament using precisely the same players who started it. Sitting among the substitutes when the first whistle blows will be names often barely known on the world stage who will have enhanced their reputation at home and further afield by the finish. In the Republic of Ireland camp, Clinton Morrison and Steven Reid are among those champing at the bit, young men with much in common, including the hope of finishing the competition as much more seasoned internationals than they began it.

Having not been selected at senior level until the start of last season, neither was expecting to start the Group E match against Cameroon today that began before half the country would normally be out of bed. Reid, 21, had at one stage accepted that his chances of making the tournament had disappeared. The Millwall midfielder, once picked by England Youth but opting for Ireland before he had played in a competitive game, was on his way to Gatwick with his girlfriend, bound for Barbados, when a message on his phone to ring the Irish manager, Mick McCarthy, changed the course of his summer and – who knows? – perhaps his career.

In the chaotic manner that both England and Ireland seem to have conducted the business of stand-by players, he was soon exchanging flip-flops for football boots and heading for Dublin and a final friendly match against Nigeria. "If Mark Kennedy was fit, he would have been here and not me," he said this week in one of the few interviews conducted at the Irish training camp that did not mention a midfielder with the initials R K.

"It's been a real roller-coaster for me, what with being beaten in the last minute of the play-offs last month, then being told I wasn't in the squad, which really hurt, before getting the bonus of being in the squad and getting out here, that has really made up for it. Now I'm hoping to get involved in as many games as possible."

With one wide player, Jason McAteer, having missed out on several days' training, and the other, Kevin Kilbane, an unpredictable force on the left, there was always a good chance of a quick, clever player having the chance to build on the favourable impression he has made in five previous games, scoring twice.

Reid's room-mate for much of that time has been his fellow south Londoner Clinton Morrison, 23, which means the Millwall man will have done well to get many words in. It is surprising that older Crystal Palace supporters who remember another international striker, Johnny "Budgie" Byrne, have not resurrected that moniker for the equally chirpy Morrison, the kind of player to enliven the dreariest training session.

Like Reid he was eligible for a number of countries through parentage rules but opted to join the Dubliners rather than become a Reggae Boy. "At the start of the season I had not decided who I was going to play for," he said. "I made up my mind to play for Ireland and have managed to score a few goals for them and a few for Palace, so it's been a dream come true, to be selected for the World Cup. Just before leaving, Ian Wright, who works with the strikers at Palace, rang me to say I was doing something he'd never done and he wished me good luck."

Wright is among those hoping the lively Morrison will still be at Selhurst Park for more coaching next season. "I'm happy at the club and I've got two years left on my contract, but obviously everyone wants to play in the Premiership," he said pointedly. Invited to sum up his qualities, he does not allow false modesty to obstruct an objective assessment: "I'm good at picking up the ball, running at people and I can score goals. I'm good with my back to the play, got a bit of pace and know where the net is, so that's all you need as a striker really. But "Duffer" [Damien Duff] is in brilliant form so I've got to wait my turn."

They also serve, who only warm up and wait.