This mornings papers are reporting that Gary Kelly has retired from international football. I know he has struggled to get into the team since the world cup, but a strange decision as he is only 29, and a strange time to make it so close to the Swiss match.
Kelly may have struggled lately in the Irish team (when he played), but there is no substitute for his experience. While the team does have quite a number of capable defenders, he will be missed. He probably won't remember the WCQ with Holland too well, but he got very little backtracking support from McAteer that day, resulting in his 2 yellows. However, he played well in WC '94, and while he may not have covered himself in glory at WC '02, he didn't let himself down either. He will be missed.
It's a shame. He would have been a very handy player to have in the squad, if only to provide dependable cover in several positions, and at this stage he was one of the more senior players left. As the others said, he'll be missed.