Irish building momentum

Giovanni TRAPATTONI challenged his Republic of Ireland players to take their fine form into their remaining Euro 2012 qualifiers after they claimed a famous win over Italy.

Goals from Keith Andrews and Simon Cox gave the Republic a 2-0 victory over Trapattoni's native country in Liege last night - their fourth in a row following successes over Northern Ireland, Scotland and Macedonia. But the 72-year-old knows they will have to keep it going when they host Slovakia and travel to Russia in September, with the three teams tied together at the top of Group B.

Trapattoni said: "We have played four games in 15 days. I said it before and I was right, we are coming out of these 15 days with the mentality that we need to go and play against teams like Russia and Slovakia."