In fairness, most of the players missing the tour have valid excuses. Paul McShane, Darron Gibson, Aiden McGeady and Darren O'Dea are all players who wouldn't have been done any harm by being in the group but have club commitments. It'd have been worth a gander to see what Derek Geary can do after 27 Premiership starts or if Caleb Folan was worth the call-up, but both are injured.

We hardly needed to see what Shay Given, Robbie Keane, Lee Carsley or Richard Dunne are about. Still, the whole family commitments thing could have been avoided with a simple phone call enquiring as to availability instead of five players from the original squad pulling out.

Of those five, Stephen Quinn would have been worth keeping an eye on. And there were some strange calls of course.

Owen Garvan actually came out in general wonderment as to why he wasn't called up after a strong end of season while Alan O'Brien, after only one premiership start for Newcastle in a season they've been injury plagued, has still played more international football than club this year.

Anyhow, the squad isn't without its nuggets of interest all the same. Colin Doyle will most likely be a Premiership keeper next season at 22 and could well be second in command to Shay Given before very long. He's not conceded a lot of goals since becoming first choice at Birmingham and should get a good run at a game here. Darren Potter's looked neat and tidy with Wolves and it's not like we're overly blessed with passing central midfielders.

Of the barely-knowns in the group, Stephen O'Halloran (19) is a solid left-back who's been earmarked as a contender by Martin O'Neill at Aston Villa; Joe O'Cearuill (20) is a centre-back/rightback who did well on loan early in the year at Brighton, but will be doing well to have any long-term future at Arsenal; Stephen Gleeson (18) hasn't started a game for Wolves yet but impressed at Stockport. Chances are at least two of them will have to start games due to lack of bodies.

And there's a shot of forwards who are all fidgeting about in the background, all falling somewhere in the potential first-choice off-thebench striker role. Kevin Doyle's nailed down his spot but any little signs of forming a potential partnership with any one of Daryl Murphy, Shane Long, Anthony Stokes or Andy Keogh could push them up the ranks. If nothing else it'll be a chance for a closer look at the four guys away from the safety-first zone that competitive football tends to bring out. There's been nothing but nice things said about Andy Keogh's general movement, touch and linkplay at Wolves but doubts remain about straight-forward scoring ratios, Long and Stokes have shown fits and starts while Murphy's been consistent. Whatever comes from the games shouldn't have long-term consequences but we might see who's heading the queue at least.

Ecuador and Bolivia are both preparing for Copa American so should be competitive. Results won't matter a whit - it's closer a B squad than those games at The Valley against Jamaica and Nigeria in summer 2004. A couple of players showing promise and a bit of youthful spark . . .

Stephen Hunt should help here . . . would be a thumbs up.

USTOUR REPUBLIC OF IRELAND v ECUADOR
Wednesday, Giants Stadium, New Jersey, Live, RTE Two, 1am (Thursday morning)

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND v BOLIVIA
Saturday, Gillette Stadium, Boston Deferred coverage, RTE Two, 11.30pm