Trapattoni puts Republic of Ireland players through their paces

The Italian and a 20-man travelling party were due to train at Lagos Stadium on the Algarve after their arrival last night.

Trapattoni put his squad through their paces at Gannon Park in Malahide on Thursday evening and yesterday morning, before setting off for the six-day training camp ahead of the friendly clashes with Serbia next Saturday and Colombia five days later.

He did so without Sunderland midfielder Andy Reid and Birmingham goalkeeper Colin Doyle, who did not train on Friday because of injury and have been withdrawn.

Reid has a hamstring problem and Doyle has damaged a cartilage and Trapattoni, who now has only Dean Kiely and Joe Murphy at his disposal with Shay Given also injured, will decide today whether or not to call up another keeper.

However, the Italian was upbeat as he prepared to run the rule over some of his younger players in Portugal.

He said: "The two training sessions we have had have gone very well. It is very clear that the players want to learn and advance as a group.

"The tactical and technical work we did was done very slowly so I could explain to the players exactly what it is I am looking for from them.

"Over the week in Portugal, we will do a lot more work at a greater intensity, and I am happy that we will be ready for the match against Serbia."

Before that, Ireland will play two practice matches against local sides Portimonese tomorrow and Lagos on Monday.

Trapattoni said: "The players have the enthusiasm and the willingness to play.

"We will look at their conditioning [in the Algarve] and we have two friendly games arranged so we can check their form.

"We will know from that if they need more training or less training. This is because they have come in after the year's campaign [with their clubs].

"This is important so that we can arrive at the games against Serbia and Colombia in good shape."