Dunne turns attention to World Cup spot after Villa

Richard Dunne has revealed that he bears no grudges over Manchester City’s decision to offload him to Aston Villa.

Instead, the former City captain says he is happy to have had the uncertainty over his future ended so that he can concentrate on Ireland’s important World Cup qualifier against Cyprus in Nicosia on Saturday.

Dunne was deemed surplus to requirements at City following the transfer window signings of centrebacks Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott.

“They told me they had accepted an offer so I said ‘okay but what if I want to stay and fight for my place?'” Dunne said ahead of the Irish squad’s departure for Nicosia. “They said ‘it’s funny, we need the money’.

“But I am not bitter about leaving, I really enjoyed my time there and wish them all the success.

“The fans have been great to me and have been crying out for success. They now seem they are on the verge of it and I just hope they get what they deserve.”

City’s extravagant spending on new players has made them favourites to break into the Premier League’s top four but Dunne does not regard the switch to Villa as necessarily a backward step in his career.

He said: “I am moving to a similar side. We don’t have the same financial backing but we have as good a squad as most in the league.”

Ireland currently lie second in group eight of the European zone qualifying competition, well-placed to clinch a place in the play-offs for next year’s finals in South Africa with Saturday’s match to be followed by home fixtures against group leaders Italy and Montenegro.

For Dunne, Saturday’s match represents an opportunity for redemption. On his last visit to Nicosia, in 2006, he was sent off as Ireland went down to a 5-2 defeat in a Euro 2008 qualifier.

“The memories of the last time aren’t great but you just try to put it to the back of your mind,” Dunne said.

“Every time we play Cyprus, that game gets brought up and people speak about revenge.

“For us, though, it’s all about winning the game. We beat them at home in Croke Park (1-0 in October, 2008) the last time, which was a very hard game, and we know it’s going to be very difficult on Saturday, but ours is a different squad now.

“There’s probably a stronger mentality in the squad and we’re just three games away from finding out where we finish in the table. We really need to pick up maximum points from them to give us the best chance.”

Dunne said securing a result in Nicosia would require a disciplined performance from the Irish.

“Cyprus is just one of those pitches and places where, regardless of who they have playing, is always difficult and they always seem to do well there.

“They will go out knowing they can beat us but hopefully we can do similar to what we did in Bulgaria (in a 1-1 draw in June) by working well together, nicking an early goal and, this time, hang on to it.

“The players are desperate to win the game. Saturday is the big one because a win would allow us to go into the final two qualifiers with a bit of room behind us.

“We feel at home in Corke Park we can beat anyone, so if we can we can go there and get three points, it will really set us up.”