England, Ireland friendly unlikely before Euro 2012

Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney says a friendly with England before the Euro 2012 finals is now ‘highly unlikely’.

Republic of Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni had given the fixture his backing, but the English FA are reluctant to commit to a match in May as the two nations could meet in the quarter-finals of the tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

Delaney has confirmed that an exhibition match is in the offing, however, and could well be at Lansdowne Road after Euro 2012.

“The England game is looking less likely for May,” he told Sunshine FM.

“The fact from the English perspective that we could play them in the quarter-finals … they’re not that keen to do it in May, but they’re keen to come sooner rather than later after that.”

“But it’s highly unlikely that it would be May now.”

Delaney was also quizzed on ticket applications, as the allocations for some of Ireland’s group games has been limited to just 6,000 – a figure which could leave many fans disappointed.

“We’ll get as many tickets as we can,” he said. “But we won’t be able to satisfy the expected demand that will come through.”

“But Irish fans are genius at finding our way into football grounds.”