Kelly Relishing Estonia Test SPORTSPEAK

Republic of Irelands Stephen Kelly has said that the boys in green will go into this Saturday and next Tuesdays massive games with Estonia not expecting wins but insists the squad has the belief that they CAN make it to Poland next summer.
The Fulham man is hot favourite to take a place in the starting 11 after it was revealed that John O’Shea is injured and Kelly is being tipped to take his place.
Kelly says that without sounding cocky it is vitally important that the squad feel confident heading into the games but also says he expects Estonia to throw everything they can at Traps army, “people like to rise to a challenge and it has been evident through this campaign especially with our performance in Russia where people didnt expect much” Kelly added “No dis-respect to Estonia because theyare in the play offs because like us they have played well to be there”
Estonia suffered a shock defeat to the Faroe Islands, formally managed by Brian Kerr during the qualification campaign and many have said that the play-off draw could not have worked out better for the Republic as they aim to qualify for their first major tournament since the World Cup in 2002.
Surly if a team with the resources that the Faroes had to engineer a win over Estonia, a man like Trapattoni with all his experience over the years can do the same with better resources and also with a better standard of players?
Kelly says “You would certainly think so, were so much higher ranked than the Faroe Islands so you would expect that, we are capable of getting a result over there and then back here, were not going to deviate from the way weve played or progressed through the group, were a very hard team to beat and hopefully we can qualify”
Irelands home qualifier against Armenia saw the Aviva Stadiums highest attendance in soccer since the opening of the Lansdowne Road venue as the FAI were once again forced to drop their ticket prices as very low soccer attendances were starting to become an embarrassing trend, according to insiders in the Association tickets are once again selling very well and we are close to seeing a sellout on Tuesday, Kelly says this will be a vital boost for all players.
“It was evident in the last game against Armenia with the FAI dropping prices the association have got the fans back onside which is fantastic because since the Aiviva opened there hasnt been the same atmosphere that Lansdowne road once had”
The Republic have experienced some pretty bad times over the years and most recently when  Ireland were cheated out of the World Cup 2010 via their play off in Paris with the famous incident of the hand of Henry. Stephen Kelly says the squad are desperate to wirte the wrongs of times gone by.
“Everybody still has the wond and scar from Paris still there and if we can go and qualify that will paper over the heartbreak from that night in Paris”
Click below to hear Stephen Kelly at the republic of Irelands mixed zone in Malahide.