THE C-WORD has effectively been banned from the lexicon of the Irish football team.

On that October night in 2006, when Cyprus rained goals past a hapless Paddy Kenny and instantly killed off Steve Staunton's flawed four-year plan for Irish football, Caleb Folan was a mildly interested spectator watching on TV. He was not involved in Nicosia that night, as at the time Folan was battling away with Chesterfield FC in league One, with international football very far from his thoughts.

Now Folan is at the heart of things. With five caps on his CV, and appearances in the World Cup games against Cyprus, Italy and Bulgaria, he's an important squad player for Giovanni Trapattoni and is likely to feature at some stage in Cyprus on Saturday night.

But talk of that 5-2 defeat three years ago is not on the menu when the squad sit down for dinner of an evening. "It's all been kept a bit quiet, there's a bit of a hush-hush approach when it comes to that game," Folan told the Herald.

"No one has brought Cyprus up yet, not to me anyway. We want to keep things positive, we are in a good position in the group and we want to keep it that way. We have confidence, we have a good state of mind and are looking forward to the game, and I think we can't let negative thoughts sink in by starting to think about what happened in the past.

Affect

"We can't change what happened in Cyprus three years ago, win or lose on Saturday the result from 2006 will still be the same and still be on the record books so why worry about it, we can't change that, we can only affect what happens this Saturday.

"I did see the game the last time, I watched it at home and it wasn't nice viewing, but I am putting that out of my mind now. We have gained some great results in the campaign so far and I want to think about that, not Ireland losing 5-2."

Cyprus has been the backdrop for many bad nights for Irish people in the last decade: those unconvincing wins in 2001 (4-0) and 2005 (1-0); the calamitous 5-2 defeat (2006); even that dismal 1-1 draw (2007). Yet the C-word holds only good memories for Folan, as he made his senior international debut against the Cypriots, on a night when Ireland won and kept a clean sheet, not a bad night's work.

"Yeah, your debut is always special so I suppose I will always have fond memories of that Cyprus game, but I want more international football now," he says.

"It's a massive boost for myself just to be in the squad, and I will always come over, if selected, and if I am fit enough to be part of it.

"I am more involved now. It was good to play in the qualifiers against Italy and Bulgaria on top of the friendlies. Any cap is special but to play in a competitive game, in a World Cup qualifier, is an amazing feeling, it's a really big thing for me."

The next week will have a big bearing on the final outcome of the World Cup group. A win for Ireland, combined with the Italians dropping points away to Georgia, could see Ireland top the group by midweek, when Italy face Bulgaria in Turin, and Folan thinks it's time Ireland began thinking about winning the group.

"The prize is a place at the World Cup and we have to aim for that," he says.

"We're looking to win this game, the confidence in the camp is very high. We have a hard week's training ahead of us so we'll knuckle down and put in a good performance. And if we can win this game on Saturday we have a great chance. We have put ourselves in a good position in the group by some hard work, a lot of hard work, we deserve to be here. And a win for us on Saturday would put all the pressure on the Italians for the rest of the group. So we have to be confident of what we can achieve.

"You grow up thinking and hoping that you might play in a World Cup finals some day, I think that's something every footballer wants in his career, we all dreamed of doing it as kids. We are very close now and we will be giving our all to make that happen

"We're not reading too much into the friendly games from last month, either our defeat to Australia or Cyprus's game with Albania, though they lost 6-1. This is a different kind of game, we have a different kind of motivation for this one," added Folan.

The former Leeds and Wigan man struggled with his club form last season, making just five starts all season for Hull, but already this term he's started four games, a welcome vote of confidence from his manager.

"The season has started well for me and that's a big boost on a personal level. Coming from last season, where I didn't feature in the starting 11 all that much, to playing in the team from the start is a big plus for me and it's made me hungry for more," Folan says.

"I know I can't count on this good run with Hull going on forever, it's a long season and there is a lot of competition for places in the team, the manager will always chop and change but it's gone well for me so far," says Folan, pleased to see Ireland team-mates Stephen Hunt and Paul McShane join him on Humberside.

Family

"Hunty has come in and done really well for us. We have a bit of an Irish family there now, with myself, Hunty, Kevin Kilbane and Paul McShane has come in as well. It's good for Ireland to have so many players at the one club, we can get to know each other well.

"Hunty is a great player to have at the club, he's proven himself in the Premier League and at international level before and we need players like that at the club. He's had a great start with Hull, and I think that having him on the wing and sending in crosses for me will be good for Ireland in the long run as we'll build up a good relationship," added Folan, knowing that a place in the Ireland starting XI could be harder to come by.

"Even at club level you will have players ahead of you, Ireland have had Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle up front for a while now, they are the established ones. And that's fair enough as I am only learning my trade still when it comes to international football, I am still developing," he stated

"But I will give the manager options, and if he wants to play me I have to make sure I am there and ready to deliver if needed. If selected I will make an impact, whether that's from the start or off the bench I don't know, it's up to the manager but I won't let Ireland down."

- Aidan Fitzmaurice