Midfielder Owen Garvan and defender Alex Bruce have been named in a Republic of Ireland squad playing a "challenge match" with Nottingham Forest on Thursday 9th October at Dalymount Park, Dublin.

The game, for which no caps will be awarded, is designed to give manager Giovanni Trapattoni and his assistants Marco Tardelli and Liam Brady an chance to assess their players ahead of their next World Cup qualifier.

Trapattoni said: "This game will give me an important opportunity to work closely with many of our talented players. We have another eight games ahead of us in our challenge for World Cup qualification and I have no doubt that some of this squad will be called upon to play their part.

"I want to thank our scouting team and our U21 manager Don Givens for identifying many new players who are performing well this year. I have already worked with some of this squad during our time in Portugal [during a training camp in the summer] and I look forward to working with those I have not already seen.

"The October 9th game will form part of an important build up to our first home World Cup qualifier match against Cyprus the following week.”

Bruce has previously won a single full cap but has been a regular in squads since Trapattoni took over as manager. Garvan is yet to win a cap, but went on the training camp in the summer and scored twice in the recent European U21 Championships game against Portugal. You can see Garvan's goals here.

Republic of Ireland: Joe Murphy - Scunthorpe United, Keiren Westwood - Coventry City, Kevin Foley - Wolves, Alex Bruce - Ipswich, Darren O'Dea - Celtic, Stephen Ward - Wolves, Paddy McCarthy - Crystal Palace, Eddie Nolan - Blackburn Rovers, Andy Keogh - Wolves, Darron Gibson - Manchester Utd, Darren Potter - Wolves, Wes Hoolahan - Norwich, Martin Rowlands - QPR, Owen Garvan - Ipswich, Shane Long - Reading, Caleb Folan - Hull City, Sean Scannell - Crystal Palace, Noel Hunt - Reading, Liam Lawrence - Stoke City, Keith Treacy - Blackburn Rovers, Keith Andrews - Blackburn Rovers, Anthony Stokes – Sunderland.

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls