Our World Cup qualification endeavour kicked off today with a fairly comfortable 2-1 victory 'away' to Georgia. Winning this game was crucial, in my opinion. Not only because it was Trapattoni's first competitive match in charge, but it was also the beginning of what will be a long and hard qualification process so starting off with a win was very important and, thankfully, the players delivered.

It certainly wasn't the most mesmerising game by any means and although I'm excited about what the manager is planning on doing with this team, I found myself flicking through channels during the game to try and keep myself from falling asleep from the boredom. Still, though, a win is a win and I would be quite happy if the team continued to scrap out results, just as long as we qualify for the World Cup in South Africa.

Ignoring the entertainment value and looking at the team from a footballing point of view: they looked quite promising and everyone was working hard, tracking back and they even seemed to have an irresistable desire to put in a sliding tackle at any given opportunity. In the 13th minute, Kevin Doyle headed the ball past the keeper expertly from a perfect cross by Aiden McGeady which came after good work from Robbie Keane. Incidentally, all three of our most important attacking players were involved in the move so, hopefully, it's a sign of things to come from the trio.

Stoke midfielder, Glenn Whelan, made it 2-0 in the 70th minute when he scored his very first international goal for Ireland, albeit a very lucky one. After deciding he fancied a shot, Whelan let rip from distance and what appeared to be a fairly routine save for Georgia goal keeper, Giorgi Loria (who had a less than convincing performance in goal) turned out to be much more troublesome. The ball seemingly richocheted of the side of his torso and flew over the line to give Ireland a comfortable lead.

The 17 year old, Levan Kenia, managed a consolation goal for Georgia in injury time after Paul McShane made himself look like an idiot for the 1,879th time on my count, but it was too little too late. 3 points in the bag for Ireland and they now have a platform to build on.

Looking at the individual displays from players, Shay Given and the defence didn't have an awful lot to deal with. Steve Finnan, whom I'm delighted to see back in the team, lost his man once during a corner kick which resulted in Georgia being gifted with a great scoring opportunity but luckily they couldn't convert. Other than that the defence looked very solid.

The midfield, is well, a work in progress it has to be said. Granted, they did look as organised and as hungry as ever but if we really want to qualify the players have to turn in better performances then what they showed against Georgia. Steven Reid and Glenn Whelan had excellent games but the wide men, Aiden McGeady and Stephen Hunt were not all together that impressive. McGeady is quickly becoming one of our most important attacking players and other than the assist for Kevin Doyle's, he did very little. We need McGeady beating the full backs and giving the front men good service. He did work very hard in fairness to him but he needs to contribute a lot more in the coming games. The same goes for Stephen Hunt; he ran himself into the ground all night but I don't remember him once sending in a decent cross or getting a shot or two on target.

Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle worked hard but if they're not getting the service from the midfield, they can't score and that was the case tonight. Doyle took his goal brilliantly and Robbie was very unlucky not to have scored when he the post from a tight angle.

Overall, it was a good performance. Everyone is showing signs of improvment and the players will start the game against Montenegro on Wednesday feeling confident. There's a long way to go but if we take things game by game, I'm sure the players will be jetting off to South Africa in 2010. Hopefully.

The FAI have announced that we will play a friendly against our very good friends Poland on the 19th of November at Croke Park. Not much else to say about that other than it should be a decent test for the lads.

Meanwhile, the new FIFA rankings were released today and the Republic Of Ireland remain in 41st position behind England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Although they don't mean that much I would still prefer if we were a little higher up the list!

Domestic football in Ireland is better than ever at the moment and Premier Division side, Drogheda United, have proved this by advancing to the 2nd round of Champions League qualification.

Drogheda booked their place in the 2nd round of qualifying thanks to a 1-0 victory over Estonian side, Levadia Tallinn. Centre-half, Graham Gartland, scored the winning goal from close range only minutes into the second half.

Unfortunately, though, Drogheda will now come up against the mighty Ukrainian side, Dynamo Kiev which will more than likely end their hopes of a place in the 3rd round of qualification. Regardless of what happens from now on, though, Drogheda should be applauded for their impressive displays so far and for doing a wonderful job of representing Irish football.

Congratulations Drogheda United.

1. Damien Duff
Injuries, lack of form and no preseason training in about 4 years has meant that Duff has gone on a steady decline since transfering to Newcaslte in 2006. However, back in the 04/05 season, Duff was playing the best football of his life and everything seemed to be going right for him. He may have failed to recapture the same form for the following season but I'm confident that Duff still has a lot more to offer his club and the Republic Of Ireland in the near future. I'm sure few people have forgotten his blistering runs down the flanks and I'm also sure a lot of people would like to see them again. If he gets a good preseason under his belt and if Keegan works some of his magic on him, who knows - 08/09 may turn out to be a great season for the Duffer.

2. Kevin Doyle
Doyle had a fantastic debut season in the Premier League. He finished as Reading's top goal scorer with 13 goals and he was nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year award. His second season with Reading, however, was not as successful. He went through lengthy goal droughts and only managed to score 6 goals throughout the whole league campaign and to top things off, Reading were relegated. I'm sure Doyle will be successful in the Championship, but if Ireland want to qualify for the World Cup in 2010, Trapattoni will need as many of his players as possible to be plying their trade in the Premier League, if not another top league somewhere in Europe. If one of the new Premier League sides need a striker, Doyle is definitely worth a punt, in my opinion. His experience could prove to be invaluable and so could his goals. However, with Reading having just sold Dave Kitson and Doyle under contract until 2010, it's not likely that he will be allowed to leave. He's still young at 24, but I can't see him doing any major improving while playing in the Championship.

3. Shay Given
Unfortunately, Shay missed large parts of the 07/08 campaign thanks to a groin injury. However, he's had a successful surgery done on it and judging by what he has been saying over the past couple of weeks his recovery is going very well and he's feeling great. Given is, in my opinion, the best player in the Ireland squad at the moment and he's arguably one of the greatest players ever to have represented the Republic Of Ireland. He's carried the team more than once and just like Duff, if this guy gets back in action as soon as possible and if he gets a decent preseason done, he will no doubt be the star of the show in Ireland games in the months to come (although I'm not entirely sure that that's a good thing).

The FAI have announced that Ray Houghton has been appointed their new football ambassador.

The 46 year old who won 73 caps with the Republic and also enjoyed successful spells with Liverpool and Aston Villa will be trying to promote the game throughout Ireland and he will also assist the FAI with other things as well.

Houghton was delighted to have been given the job:

"I am delighted to be given this opportunity to help promote the excellent work the FAI is doing across Ireland and I am really looking forward to the role"

If you would like to read a bit more about this new appointment, just check out the FAI website.

The FAI have appointed Wim Koevermans as our new International Performance Director. Koevermans, who is currently working for the Dutch Football Association will start his new job for the FAI on the 1st of September.

I don't know too much about this job, but it sounds like a load of nonsense to me - like that thing Bobby Robson was doing for Steve Staunton - advisor or something. Anyway, according to the FAI website, "Koevermans will be responsible for the development and delivery of the FAI’s High Performance Strategy and will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer."

I'm not sure what that exactly means but if it brings us a step closer to qualifying for the World Cup in 2010 then I'm all for it! I don't think it will have too much of an effect on how we see Ireland play in the future but I'm sure he will be doing a lot of work behind the scenes.

In other news, Italy and AS Roma playmaker, Francesco Totti has revealed that he may come out of international retirement to work with new Italy manager Marcello Lippi again. This, I would imagine, would of course give Trapattoni and his staff more work to do and would give them one or two head aches I can imagine.

 But anyway, we'll see how things pan out in the future.

With the new season kicking off in just over a months time, I thought it would be a good idea to go through the bulk of the Irish squad and note where and for whom they will be playing in the upcoming campaign. As you would expect (and hope), the spine of the team, Given, Dunne and Keane will all be plying their trade in the Premier League next season. This, of course, is fantastic news as it's important that we have as many players as possible playing top level football.

Damien Duff, John O'Shea, Andy Reid, Daryl Murphy and Dean Kiely are all more than likely going to be playing in the Premier League as well next season if they decide to stay at their respective clubs. Unfortunately, Stephen Hunt, Kevin Doyle and Shane Long will be playing Championship football next season. Hunt and Doyle are two players whom I believe are good enough to play in the Premier League, but it all depends on whether or not someone will be willing to spend the money to buy them during the transfer market.

Aidean McGeady, who looks as though he will play a major role in Trapattoni's new set up will be playing for SPL side Celtic next season as will the up and coming 21 year old defender, Darren O'Dea who has yet to earn his first cap. McGeady has done some major improving at Celtic over the last couple of seasons and he's more than likely gained the attention of some Premiership clubs. However, I don't think McGeady will leave Celtic just yet.

Other players who we might see playing for Ireland over the coming months are Anthony Stokes (Sunderland, Premier League), Lee Carsley (Birmingham, Championship), Kevin Kilbane (Wigan, Premier League), Steven Reid (Blackburn, Premier League) and Steve Finnan (Liverpool, Premier League). However, with the transfer market almost in full swing, many of these players may be loaned or sold to other clubs.

If any transfer are made that are significant to the Ireland squad, you can be sure to read about them here.

As most of you will no doubt remember, Stephen Ireland was involved in quite a bit of controversy back in September 2007. A few days prior to the Euro 2008 qualification game against the Czech Republic, Ireland requested to speak to Steve Staunton to ask for leave as his maternal grandmother had died. However, the media quickly discovered that Ireland's grandmother was not dead. At this point, he should have told the truth and stopped lying to the nation. Instead, he announced that it was paternal grandmother who had died but once again, the media discovered that she was not dead.

The Republic Of Ireland's new assitant manager and former player, Liam Brady, has been anxious to get Ireland back into the fold again because he believes that he could bring a lot to the party. I would agree with Brady for the most part, but Ireland has proved to me that he doesn't seem all that comitted to representing his country and there are plenty of other players out there, who may not be as technically skilled as Ireland is, but are willing to give their all for their country - these are the guys I want to see playing.

A new manager, a new system, a new hope and a new blog to go with it all. Giovanni Trapattoni has begun his tenure as manager of the Republic of Ireland and over the coming months (or years), I will be using this blog to share with you my views and opinions on anything and everything related to the Irish team and their World Cup qualification endeavour.

I've no doubt that there many blogs and sites out there you read (or at least force yourself to) and you're probably wondering why on earth you should start reading mine -- I mean, I haven't even written anything even remotely substantial yet. However, I've supported the Irish team for many years now and I believe that I know enough about them to offer you interesting and engaging articles.

So, what exactly can you expect to find on this blog in the future? Well, my plan is to provide you, the readers, with a blend of serious and sometimes humours articles. From time to time I will do an in depth analysis on a certain player or a certain aspect of the team (or the management for that matter!) In short, you will be sure to find plenty of stats, facts, figures and articles on this blog.

The blog is now set up and ready to go but I'm missing only one tiny factor: articles! Don't worry, though. I will get 'round to writing plenty of them over the coming weeks. In the meantime, please feel free to grad the RSS feed and check back regularly!