Irish medical staff refuse to rule Shane Long out of November play-offs. (Pic: PA)

Setanta Sports has confirmed that it will show the first leg of Ireland’s Euro 2012 play-off  tie against Estonia live from Tallinn at 6.30am on Saturday, 12 November.

The second leg will be shown live from Dublin by ESPN at 6:45am, 16 November.  A replay of the game will also be shown at 8pm later that day.

Meanwhile, the FAI is holding out hope that Shane Long still has a chance of featuring in next month’s crucial games against Estonia.

The initial news seemed to rule him out of both fixtures with the player’s club West Bromwich Albion expecting him to return to fitness in early December.

However, on the eve of Giovanni Trapattoni’s announcement of his preliminary squad for the games this Friday, Irish medical staff indicated that it is still too early to say how long the 24 -year-old’s recovery might take, but that his progress will be monitored over the course of the week.

A scan on the knee injured in a wild challenge by Alan Hutton in West Brom’s defeat of Aston Villa, has shown that Long’s cruciate ligaments are undamaged but, according to the club’s website there is: “severe bone bruising and a small bone chip inside the right knee”.

Long’s availability is of particular concern as Kevin Doyle is suspended for the first leg, while Robbie Keane is a doubt for both games due to injury.

Trapattoni’s most obvious remaining striking option is to pair Long’s club mate Simon Cox with Stoke City forward, Jonathan Walters.

However there also plenty of Irish strikers who have been left out of recent squads who are playing well for their clubs, including Celtic’s Anthony Stokes, Newcastle’s Leon Best and Leeds’ Andy Keogh.

Keogh will hope that his recent form for Leeds has made as much of an impression on Trapattoni as it has on Simon Grayson who says that he may look to sign the Irishman permanently from Wolves when his loan spell at Elland Road runs out in January.

Newcastle’s Best has also repeatedly staked his claim this season with three Premier League goals already this campaign, although Trapattoni has recently suggested that he believes the in-form striker needs to improve his work-rate before being considered.

“I am playing well and scoring goals, me and Shane are on the same amount in terms of Premier League goals. Goals win games and while working hard for the team helps, you can only run as hard as your body will let you,” said Best in response to the Irish manager’s remarks.

Republic of Ireland skipper Robbie Keane is convinced there is another twist to come as the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign reaches the point of no return.

Ireland head into tonight’s Group B clash with minnows Andorra (Setanta Sports, from 9.30am Saturday, delayed) knowing a maximum haul from that game and Tuesday night’s visit of Armenia to the Aviva Stadium will guarantee them a play-off place at worst.

However, should Slovakia beat leaders Russia in Zilina tonight, six points would send Giovanni Trapattoni’s men to next summer’s finals in Poland and Ukraine.

Keane said: “These two games are huge and we have come into them desperate to get the six points to guarantee the play-off.

“But I still think there is a twist here somewhere along the line – and I hope it’s not for us. Hopefully, Slovakia can do us a favour.

“We need to concentrate on our own job and getting six points, focus on tomorrow’s game and getting three points and getting ourselves out of here and looking forward to Tuesday’s game.

“At the start of the campaign, this is what you play for, to be in positions like this.

“Before the campaign, a lot of people would have probably accepted this, but there is still a little twist, I think.”

The shoot-out in Slovakia kicks off before the Republic get underway in the Pyrenees, and while Keane knows avoiding news of what is going on in Zilina may prove difficult, he insists he and his team-mates cannot allow it to distract them.

Keane said: “Eventually, we will find out somehow, but it’s important that we focus on what we are doing rather than looking at Slovakia and Russia.

“I am sure somewhere along the line, someone will say something to us, but it’s important that the players focus on our own job at hand because by no means is this going to be a walk-over.

“It’s going to be a tough game with the conditions and what have you, so we need to be totally 100% focussed on exactly what we have to do. That’s the most important thing.”

Those conditions involve playing on a tight, uneven pitch at 1100m above sea level in front of a crowd which is expected to total only around 800.

Keane has recent experience of playing at altitude with LA Galaxy, but he is adamant that both that and the state of the pitch are largely irrelevant.

He said: “I played a couple of weeks ago. We played a Mexican team and it was quite high altitude.

“In the first 15 minutes of the warm-up, the fitness coaches were telling us to make sure we got a good sweat on first and try to get past that stage where you are breathing quite heavily.

“It’s completely different, but a lot of players have played in it before.

“I haven’t seen the pitch yet, but apparently it’s not too good, so you are not going to be popping the ball about like Barcelona. It’s important to play to our strengths and play to how the pitch is.

“For us, it is just about getting three points and getting out of here.

“It’s very important that we keep focussed and defend well as a team. If we score in the first minute or whether it’s the 80th minute, it doesn’t really matter as long as we come out of here with a win.”

Ireland arrived in Andorra looking for an eighth successive clean sheet, although tomorrow night’s game is likely to unfold very differently to the 90 minutes in Russia which ended in a hard-fought 0-0 draw.

Keane said: “We didn’t play particularly well in Russia – we got battered, let’s be totally honest.

“They played really, really well and had a lot of chances. We didn’t play well, but the most important thing is we got a point out there, and that could be crucial.”

The GAA Championships return this weekend.

The 2010 GAA Championship season kicks off this Sunday, but fans from Kerry, Tipperary, Derry and Armagh who had been hoping to tune into the action live will be disappointed.

Those first two games – in the Munster and Ulster Senior Football Championships respectively – will not be screened live on Setanta Sports but will instead be shown on delay a few hours later.

The Serie A Italian soccer championship and German Bundesliga playoffs will instead get priority this weekend, with the station opting to screen the clash of Inter Milan and Sienna (11pm) and Augsburg vs Nuremburg (2am).

The Tipp v Kerry clash will now go to air at 6.30am on Monday morning, with the Ulster clash following afterward at 8am.

The news does get better for GAA fans, however, with two live games going to air the following weekend.

First up, Meath take on Offaly in the Leinster Senior Football Championship from 10pm, and that clash will be followed at 12.30am by live coverage of the Ulster Senior Football Championship clash between Antrim and Tyrone.

For full GAA telecast detail, click here.

For a list of Setanta venues, click here.