DEAN Kiely insists he would have been 'foolish' to turn down the chance to come out of international retirement.

The 37-year-old stopper, who quit in February 2003 after playing for the Republic of Ireland eight times, is part of a 28-man party for the forthcoming training camp in Portugal and the home friendlies against Serbia on May 24 and Colombia on May 29.

And he is now relishing the opportunity to work with the likes of manager Giovanni Trapattoni and assistant bosses Liam Brady and Marco Tardelli.

"Before anybody spoke to me about coming back into the fold, I was asked by the media as a former Irish international what I felt about the new management set up and the appointment of Mr Trapattoni, Liam Brady and Marco Tardelli," said Kiely.

"From a player's point of view, you couldn't ask for a lot more, it's a very exciting appointment.

"I said then that the idea of turning up for the first session with them was very exciting and that certainly did feed into my decision making process when I was approached and asked if I wanted to play again.

"For people of my age group, growing up watching football, names like those are all legendary figures, so to take to the same training field and be around such people is a massive opportunity.

"It was just an offer that I'd have been foolish to turn down." 

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