Republic relief over Duff fitness

Damien Duff missed the last six weeks of Chelsea's season

Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr has expressed his relief that Damien Duff seems set to be fit for Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Israel.

Duff played in the second half of Sunday's 1-0 win over Celtic.

It was the Chelsea winger's second outing in the space of nine days after missing the club's last six matches of last season with a hamstring injury.

"He played 70 minutes last week and yesterday was also very important for him," said Republic boss Kerr.

It was the tonic Kerr needed ahead of Ireland's Group Four clashes against Israel at Lansdowne Road on Saturday, swiftly followed by a trip to Torshavn to take on the Faroe Islands four days later.

The maximum six points are seen as crucial if Ireland are to head to Germany for next summer's finals and Duff is a pivotal character in that bid.

"Damien has not played much in the last month, but he had a good half yesterday," said Kerr on Monday.

"In particular in the second half, when they brought on a lot of fresh players after using the basis of their cup winning team for the first half, it was much livelier and that was good for Damien."

After being given the day off on Monday, the players reconvene in Dublin on Tuesday when four fresh faces are expected to join up with the squad.

Manchester United's John O'Shea returns after the death of his grandmother on Saturday while former Leeds left-back Ian Harte arrives after suffering relegation for a second successive season, this time with Spanish side Levante.

It is a game we go into knowing a win is the only sort of result we can look for, and I'm sure we'll get that Steven Reid

Steve Finnan is also scheduled to report providing he has recovered from a thigh injury as is Leicester's Alan Maybury who has been struggling with a back injury.

If Finnan is ruled out, Blackburn midfielder Steven Reid could take the full-back slot as Newcastle's Stephen Carr is suspended for the Israel game.

Reid ended 13 months out of the Irish picture by playing at right-back during Sunday's 1-0 win over Celtic in the Jackie McNamara testimonial.

The Blackburn player had not played at right-back since his days at Millwall, although unsurprisingly was happy just to get a game after earning the last of his 11 caps against Poland in April last year.

Despite the disappointment of conceding an injury-time equaliser to Israel when the two sides met in Tel Aviv at the end of March, Reid is confident Ireland will prevail on this occasion.

"It is a game we go into knowing a win is the only sort of result we can look for, and I'm sure we'll get that," insisted Reid.

Israel have fitness doubts over Salamanca midfielder Omri Afek and striker Pini Balili who plays for Turkish club Kaysarispor.

Salim Tuamah has been left out of Avraham Grant's 21-man squad because of a hamstring injury.

Israel are tied for first place with France, both with 10 points, in Group 4 of European qualifying with Switzerland and the Republic of Ireland one point behind the two leaders.

Israel squad:

Goalkeepers: Dudu Awat (Racing Santander), Nir Davidovic (Maccabi Haifa), Ohad Cohen (Macccabi Petah Tikva)

Defenders: Arik Benado (Maccabi Haifa), Alon Harazi (Maccabi Haifa), Shimon Gershon (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Tal Chen (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Adoram Keisi (Hapoel Petah Tikva), Klemi Saban (Hapoel Petah Tikva), Avi Yechiel (Hapoel Petah Tikva), Abed Rabah (Bnei Sakhnin)

Midfielders: Idan Tal (Maccabi Haifa), Abas Suan (Bnei Sakhnin), David Revivo (Ashdod), Omri Afek (Salamanca), Moshe Biton (Bnei Yehuda), Omer Golan (Maccabi Petah Tikva)

Forwards: Yossi Benayoun (Racing Santander), Yaniv Katan (Maccabi Haifa), Pini Balili (Kaysarispor), Avi Nimni (Betar Jerusalem)