Goodman may come in for O'Neill

THE promotion of Wimbledon's Jon Goodman is one of the options being considered by Mick McCarthy following the withdrawal of Keith O'Neill from next Sunday's World Cup game against Iceland.

Goodman was named in the preliminary squad for the Liechtenstein fixture in August but then withdrawn when it was discovered that his qualifications to play for Ireland had not been established. He is due to have talks with McCarthy this morning.

"As I understand it, Jon's papers are now in order but I am not so sure about his fitness," said McCarthy. "He's had an injury problem and hasn't appeared in Wimbledon's first team in recent weeks. If he's fully fit I'll consider calling him in. But at this point that's far from clear."

Earlier, the manager learned that David Connolly, the 19 year old Watford forward, would not be available after failing a fitness test for the game against Brentford on Saturday.

Connolly, who has completed only two games for his club this season, is still struggling with injury and has been withdrawn from the under 21 squad for the meeting with Iceland at Dalymount Park on Saturday.

O'Neill damaged a hamstring against Sheffield United last Wednesday and was then ruled out of the 2-1 defeat by Charlton at the weekend.

It means that there are only three specialist forwards, Tony Cascarino, John Aldridge and David Kelly, left in the squad. Aldridge has left himself out of the starting line up for each of Tranmere's last two games.

Alan Moore, Middlesbrough's utility player, is also capable of filling a front line role.

With ample alternatives available in defence, Steve Staunton's absence will not be unduly worrying for the Irish manager but he may still call in a replacement to bring the numerical strength of the squad back to 20.

Paul McGrath, working towards full match fitness with Derby County, is a possible choice but the more likely scenario is a recall for Gary Kelly who has yet to play for McCarthy.

The Irish squad is due to assemble this evening and will train ill Dublin tomorrow morning before moving to their base in Carrickmacross. They will not return to Dublin until Saturday.