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Manchester City's Stephen Ireland has not been included in Republic of Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni's 25-man squad for the World Cup Group Eight qualifier at home to Georgia.

There had been media speculation that Ireland would return for the February 11 match but City's in-form midfielder - who last played for his country in September 2007 - has decided to extend his self-imposed exile from international football.

Sunderland's Andy Reid was also absent from the squad.

Former Tottenham, Charlton and Nottingham Forest midfielder Reid was dropped by Trapattoni for Ireland's friendly defeat to Poland in November after he had breached a 1am curfew three days before a World Cup qualifier against Montenegro.

"Today, Andy Reid or Ireland, please, it's finished. We speak with them. To clarify, it's finished," Trapattoni said.

"We are aiming to win. I hope the players will come back with the same spirit full determination like they had in November. I hope they haven't forgotten the work done until now."

Espanyol full-back Steve Finnan and Birmingham defender Stephen Kelly both return after missing the last two games through injury.

Coventry City's Keiren Westwood was preferred to Scunthorpe's Joe Murphy for the third goalkeeping spot.

Ireland lie second in group eight, three points behind leaders Italy, but with a game in hand.

They defeated Georgia 2-1 in their opening World Cup qualifier in the German city of Mainz in September before holding Montenegro to a scoreless draw and beating Cyprus 1-0 in Dublin.

Squad: Shay Given (Newcastle), Dean Kiely (West Brom), Keiren Westwood (Coventry), Alex Bruce (Ipswich), Damien Delaney (QPR), John O'Shea (Manchester United), Kevin Foley (Wolves), Paul McShane (Sunderland), Richard Dunne (Manchester City), Stephen Kelly (Birmingham), Steve Finnan (Espanyol), Kevin Kilbane (Hull), Aiden McGeady (Celtic), Damien Duff (Newcastle), Darron Gibson (Manchester United), Glenn Whelan (Stoke), Keith Andrews (Blackburn), Liam Miller (QPR), Stephen Hunt (Reading), Andy Keogh (Wolves), Caleb Folan (Hull), Kevin Doyle (Reading), Robbie Keane (Liverpool), Shane Long (Reading), Noel Hunt (Reading).

Reuters