Doherty misses out on Portugal trip

Last updated : 09 May 2006 By Rick Lamb
While his teammate Robert Green is celebrating his place in Sven Goran Eriksson's World Cup squad, Gary Doherty is free to jet off on his holidays after again being overlooked for international duty with the Republic of Ireland.

Steve Staunton is taking 29 players on a trip to Portugal and to play a friendly against Chile, but Norwich City's Player of the Year is not one of them. Staunton, who along with former England boss Bobby Robson took over from Brian Kerr after Eire's failed World Cup qualifying campaign, also omitted Doherty from his only previous squad.

Former Spurs and Luton man Doherty has been a mainstay of Republic squads for several seasons, often being deployed as a striker, but is clearly not fancied by Staunton. Canaries fans will hope that he can continue to improve for his club in a bid to impress his new international boss.