Irish Trialist in Tour Party
Thursday, 16th Jul 2009 17:18

Town have included trialist Shane O'Connor in the squad travelling to Ireland for the friendlies with Waterford United and Cork City. Former Liverpool academy midfielder, striker or left-back O'Connor netted twice for the reserves at Gorleston last Saturday.

O'Connor, released by the Reds in March, was previously with Rockmount, the County Cork side where Roy Keane's brother Pat is currently a member of the first team and where the Town boss was a player as a youngster.

Capped twice by the Republic of Ireland at U19 level having previously played for the U17s, O'Connor is an international team-mate of academy striker Ronan Murray.

Other than the Irishman, there are few surprises in the squad. Alan Quinn is included despite picking up a minor knock which kept him out of the Brentford game, while Pablo Couñago and Ben Thatcher will remain behind along with long-term knee injury absentee Luciano Civelli.

Couñago has been suffering with a groin injury throughout pre-season, while Thatcher is not yet ready for a return after injuring knee ligaments late last season. Keane expects the pair to return to action when the reserves face Clacton next Thursday.

The Blues boss outlined his plans for the two games: "I will be looking to give more players 90 minutes while we're in Ireland.

"We will probably have one team for Friday and another for Sunday. Damien Delaney and Jon Walters played the full game at Brentford, so they will be unlikely to feature at Waterford, while we will look to get players like Owen and Shumi 90 minutes while we are over there.

"It's all part of the bigger picture, the players getting a full game under their belt, but we have to be careful as well so taking one or two youngsters makes sure we have cover."

Town face Waterford United on Friday (KO 8pm) and Cork City on Sunday (KO 4pm).

Squad: Balkestein, Bruce, Delaney, Garvan, Lisbie, Martin, McAuley, Norris, O'Connor, Quinn, Rhodes, Shumulikoski, Smith, Stead, Supple, Trotter, Walters, Wickham, D Wright, R Wright.

Photo: Action Images

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