Cunningham a cause for concern

Jason McAteer, Jeff Kenna and Curtis Fleming are expected in Dublin today as emergency cover for Saturday's Euro 2000 play-off against Turkey following a serious escalation of the fitness problems in the Republic of Ireland camp.

They were called up yesterday after Mick McCarthy had seen his casualty toll climb higher following the weekend club programme in England.

Already committed to replacing Steve Staunton and Matt Holland, McCarthy must now legislate for the absence of Gary Kelly, who was sent back to Leeds yesterday for treatment on a damaged hamstring.

Also lost to injury was Mark Kennedy, the Manchester City winger, who finally conceded in an increasingly futile struggle to prove his fitness after visiting a specialist in Manchester.

Additionally, and perhaps most disturbing of all, Kenny Cunningham is uncertain to play after damaging medial ligaments during Wimbledon's 2-0 success over Leeds United on Sunday.

This is an identical injury to the one which put Staunton out of the game and still threatens Irwin's chances of playing and the impact on McCarthy was considerable.

"Kenny's knee is sore enough for me to be concerned about his chances of recovering by Saturday," he said.

"Fortunately, there are still five days to go to the first meeting with the Turks, but whether that will be enough to get him right, only time will tell."

From a situation in which he never rated a place in the squad before McCarthy came to power, Cunningham's development from bit player to an influential international has been one of the great success stories of the manager's term of office. McCarthy gambled on playing him out of position in the centre of his defence and has never stopped being grateful.

Cunningham is now the senior member of his central defensive partnership with Gary Breen, good enough to be named as Ireland's Player of the Year in 1998 and consistent enough to keep Phil Babb out of the team ever since.

With his first team status at Liverpool also surrendered, these are difficult days for Babb, but McCarthy made it clear that in the event of having to rebuild the centre of his defence, he will not be unduly alarmed at the prospect.

"I certainly don't want to lose Kenny from my team and hopefully I won't, but if the worst comes to the worst, I will at least be able to call on a player who is very familiar with the requirements for international football," he said.

"Phil may not currently figure in Liverpool's first team, but people at the club tell me that he's trained well this season. He certainly looks sharp enough to me and, if required, I think he could do a real job for the team. But obviously, I would prefer to have an option in choosing my central defenders."

The loss of both Kennedy and Gary Kelly is potentially serious. Although McCarthy hadn't gone public on the point, it was expected that in his determination to chase the first game at Lansdowne Road, he would start with the Manchester City player on the right side of midfield.

Equally, he was looking to Kelly's proven qualities as a defender to fill an important part in his blueprint for the return game in Bursa. But sadly, those hopes evaporated within an hour of the player linking up with the squad at their base at Dublin airport yesterday.

A hamstring injury sustained initially during Leeds' UEFA Cup win over Lokomotiv Moscow last Thursday was aggravated in the Wimbledon game on Sunday.

With Irwin also struggling to prove his fitness, it leaves the Ireland manager short of right-sided players, which led to the call up for McAteer, Kenna and Fleming.

Rory Delap, grown to new stature in a remarkable season with Derby County, is now the front runner to fill the position originally reserved for Kennedy. If he does, it will be the first time for him to start an Ireland game. All three of his caps were gained as a substitute, the last of them in the scoreless draw with Mexico 18 months ago.

In sharp contrast to the hardship visited on the Ireland players, members of the Turkish squad had a free weekend following the decision of the national federation to cancel all club games involving players bound for Dublin.

Sergen Yalcin, the Fernabache midfielder who was singled out by McCarthy as one of the danger men in the visiting team, has missed his club's last two games with a knee injury. Yet Turkish manager Mustaf Denizli was sufficiently optimistic to predict that he will train today.