Ireland captain Keane had worn a knee brace earlier in the week but took a full part in Wednesday's training session in Dublin prior to the squad's departure flight to the caucuses while Dunne was rested from the workout as a precaution. Darren O'Dea, who sustained a knock during training on Tuesday, also sat out the session.

Trapattoni said: "I am optimistic. As a precaution, we left Richard and also Darren out of training, but I am optimistic because we have 48 hours.

"Richard I am sure about - and also it possible Darren could be on the bench.

"Richard still has this knock in the muscle, but hopefully tomorrow, he will train with us."

The manager has a decision to make as to which of his midfield options will be called upon to replace the injured Keith Andrews in the centre alongside Glenn Whelan.

Early indications suggest Paul Green is prised for his first competitive start but Trap revealed that Darron Gibson is another contender.

"Paul is confident, he has good personality," said the Italian. "He's fast, he's quick and I like his mentality.

"We have other players and today (in training) I tried Gibson with Whelan. I'm sure I can change but today I can say 60 per cent it will be Green."

*This is the first of two articles recalling the first visit of an Irish team to Armenia in 1974. The second article will be published tomorrow.

 Bobby Tambling, former English International and Chelsea superstar, had the distinction of leading the first team from Ireland into competitive action in Yerevan where Ireland will open their challenge for the UEFA 2012 Championship on Friday against Armenia.

The year was 1974 and Tambling had been persuaded to come out of retirement a year previously by the now defunct Cork Celtic. He repaid Celtic's initiative by helping the club win the League of Ireland Championship for the first and only time in their history in May 1974.

Tambling is a legend at Stamford Bridge where he has a suite named after him. He holds the all-time scoring record of 202 goals in 370 games for the club.

His success with Cork Celtic in 1974 was, however, his only League Championship medal. Celtic's win earned them a place in the European Champions' Cup - the forerunner of the today's Champions' League - in which they were drawn to play Omonia Nicosia in the first round.

The Cypriots withdrew from the competition and Celtic advanced to the second round where they were drawn to play the champions of the old Soviet Union, Ararat Yerevan. Their experiences still resonate with the former Chelsea captain, who lives in Crosshaven, Co. Cork, and speaks warmly and enthusiastically of his time in the League of Ireland.

"I know Ireland are going to Armenia to play on Friday" he said, "so what happened in 1974 is not really relevant. But the standard of football we encountered was an eye-opener, even though I had played for England and had experience of playing in Europe with Chelsea.

"We knew they were going to be good and better than us. Cork Celtic had part-time players after all but the fact that they were champions of Russia (the Soviet Union) and they had six or seven internationals (Soviet Union internationals). They were very, very good."

"We knew nothing about Ararat Yerevan as you can imagine" he said when interviewed especially for www.FAI.ie, "it wasn't like today where every match is seen live on TV. This was a journey into the unknown but one we enjoyed immensely despite the result of the matches."

Ararat Yerevan travelled to Cork for the first leg and won a match in which Cork Celtic defended stoutly at Flower Lodge by 2-1. But they opened up in the second leg to win 5-0 and 7-1 on aggregate.

Dinny Allen was a member of that Cork Celtic team. He captained Cork's Gaelic Football team to All-Ireland success in 1989 and in 1974 was an Irish amateur international and was being monitored by a number of English professional clubs.

"They were in a different league to us" he said, "we played as well as we could and did reasonably well in Cork. But in Yerevan they blew us away and we could hardly get a touch ... we were almost hugging one another when we got a corner kick."

Twelve months ago Tambling he was invited back to Stamford Bridge and was honoured when the club made a presentation to him in the middle of the pitch at a home match to mark his enduring record.

Ararat Yerevan went out of the European Champions' Cup in 1974 when they were narrowly beaten by Bayern Munich. The Germans went on to clinch the second of three consecutive wins in the tournament by beating Leeds United in the final. Yerevan were good enough to have won the competition in Tambling's opinion.

"We had been told that Yerevan were not a typical Russian team who were known to play strong and dour football" he said, "we were told Yerevan preferred a more artistic and skilful game and so it proved. They were very talented.

"They were big, strong athletes as well, of course, but I could appreciate how good they were when I watched them in training. They moved around in circles as all teams do while working the ball from one to another but they did it at great speed and they fired the ball from one to another. Their control and the skills they had were brilliant."

Ireland are favourites to open their campaign with a win, the odds with some bookmakers is 4/6 on an Irish win. Bobby Tambling believes they have the strength and quality to do so, but he counsels caution.

"So many players now are not playing in the own country; the better players are playing all over Europe and they are bringing that experience back to their national team" he said, "All of the international teams are well-organised and difficult to beat nowadays.

"In my time you could regard a trip to Malta or to Cyprus as something of a holiday, but not anymore, they cannot be taken for granted. Ireland have found that out in recent years with Cyprus, for example.

"There's no such thing as an easy match in international football, especially away from home."

Sligo Rovers will play Monaghan United in the final and the match will be televised live on Setanta Ireland. The match will kick-off at 5.30 pm.

The EA SPORTS CUP final offers a classic confrontation behind a Premier Division and a First Division League team. Sligo are enjoying a good season in the Premier while Monaghan are very live contenders for promotion from the First.

The match will be an historic one for Monaghan United who will be playing in a national cup final for the first time. Sligo will be chasing their first win in the competition since 1998.

Ticket information will be announced shortly.

The Republic of Ireland's joint record caps holder has been a permanent fixture in the senior set-up since making his debut against Iceland in 1997 under Mick McCarthy.

The Hull City player has the World Cup finals appearance of 2002 in his portfolio but the 33-year-old is relishing the prospect of challenging for European Championship qualification when the quest kicks off in Yerevan against Armenia on Friday (4pm, Irish time).

He said: "I feel fresh, sharp and really up for it. The last campaign gave us real belief we can go on and qualify for these European Championships.

"It's going to be a hostile atmosphere there on Friday with Armenia having a real good support and if we're not quite at it, we could get turned over.

"However, we're going there to win and if we played like we did in last campaign, we've a real chance of getting good start.

"Six points is something we can achieve from the Armenia and Andorra games over the next week. Sometimes at this early stage of the season, players can be below peak fitness levels but everyone's raring to go for the start of the campaign and that will see us through Friday once we approach the game in the proper manner."

Kilbane admits he did consider calling time on his glittering international career in the aftermath of last November's World Cup exit at the hands of France in the play-off but is determined to continue helping the Irish cause.

He said: "I did speak to some people about it and the advice given was that if the manager doesn't pick you, he's going to retire you himself.

"He has picked me and I just want to be in around this squad. You never know what's around the corner with injuries but hopefully I can stay around and see us to another tournament.

"It's a big blow losing the injured Damien Duff for this match because he's one of our match-winners but we're going there in confident mood."

Women's Under-17 Friendly International
Republic of Ireland 2-1 New Zealand

Rebecca Kearney struck a late winner to give the Republic of Ireland Women's Under-17s a morale-boosting friendly win over New Zealand on Tuesday in their last warm-up match for next week's World Cup.

Noel King's side had the first of their two game tour of Fort Lauderdale in Florida to World Cup hosts World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday but hit back in superb style for overcoming the Kiwis.

Ireland fell behind on 23 minutes but equalised through Ciara Grant ten minutes later. Kearney then supplied the winning goal two minutes from full-time.

This Republic of Ireland squad created history earlier this year by becoming the first FAI women's squad to qualify for the first-ever major Championship when they reached the UEFA Under-17 finals.

They defeated Germany in the semi-final in June and only missed out on the European trophy following a penalty shoot-out against Spain.

By finishing amongst the top three in Europe, Noel King's squad sealed a place at the Women's World Cup which kicks off for Ireland next Monday, September 6, against Brazil.

FIFA Women's U17 World Cup - Group 4 Fixtures

Republic of Ireland v Brazil
Monday, September 6
Larry Gomes Stadium, Trinidad

Republic of Ireland v Canada
Thursday, September 9
Larry Gomes Stadium, Trinidad

Republic of Ireland v Ghana
Monday September 14
Dwight Yorke Stadium, Tobago

Republic of Ireland Women's U17 Squad:
Grace Moloney - Reading
Ciara O'Brien - Tramore
Megan Campbell - St. Francis
Jessica Gleeson - Tramore
Jennifer Byrne - Bealnamulla
Ciara Grant - Kilmacrennan Celtic
Aileen Gilroy - Killala
Dora Gorman - Salthill Devon
Zoe Boyd - Montclair Thunderbolts (USA)
Denise O'Sullivan - Wilton United
Siobhan Killeen - Raheny United
Stacie Donnelly - Reading
Rianna Jarrett - Northend United
Tanya Kennedy - Finn Valley
Kerry Glynn - Montclair Thunderbolts (USA)
Amanda Budden - Wilton United
Claire Shine - Douglas Hall
Harriet Scott - Reading
Rebecca Kearney - Lakewood Athletic
Jillian Maloney - Roswell Santos (USA)
Emma Hansberry - Strand Celtic

Manager
Noel King.