Houghton ruled out for vital games

Ray Houghton was yesterday denied the opportunity of compensating for some exasperating misses against Lithuania, when he was ruled out of the Republic of Ireland squad for the World Cup games in Iceland and Lithuania. Less than 24 hours before the party was due to set off for Reykjavik, Houghton's club, Reading, notified the FAI that he would not be available to travel with the squad this morning.

It is understood that he sustained an injury in Reading's game at the weekend, but the precise nature of the knock was not immediately available to Ireland manager Mick McCarthy.

"It's a bad blow for even at 35, Ray Houghton is still an exceptional international player," he said.

"He proved it on his return to the team in Romania in April and it showed again in his performance in the scoreless draw with Lithuania. "He took some criticism on missing a couple of good chances and I'm sure nobody at Lansdowne Road was more disappointed than he was that he failed to score. But the important thing for me was that he was getting into positions in which goals were possible.

"Ray gave us the movement which we had been lacking in some of our earlier games and in his absence, it will be difficult to rediscover the kind of imaginative running that took him into the open spaces so often against Lithuania."

Houghton's withdrawal fits an unhappy pattern for the player over the last year. After playing in some of McCarthy's early games in charge, he sustained a bad injury last Christmas and it was not until much later that he was deemed sufficiently fit to return and lend his experience to Crystal Palace's promotion bid.

Now embarked on his first managerial assignment at Reading, his enthusiasm remains as infectious as ever and his influence on those around him in the meeting with Lithuania is a quality which will not be easily replaced.

Nor is his defection the only problem on the horizon of the Irish manager as he anticipates two games which may well determine the success or failure of his World Cup challenge.

Also out are Keith O'Neill and Niall Quinn. O'Neill pulled out last night with a cracked bone in his left foot. He went to Dublin yesterday morning and after being examined by Dr Martin Walsh, the team's medical officer, he was said to be unfit to play.

Quinn found that his knee had become badly swollen after his club's game on Tuesday evening. Like Houghton, he has been in the wars on several occasions in recent seasons and before making a surprising return against Lithuania, had been absent from international football for almost a year. The loss of both players will reduce the front-line options available to McCarthy and give still more responsibility to Tony Cascarino and David Connolly, who shared the striking duties in the 3-0 win over the National League in Eoin Hand's testimonial game at Tolka Park on Tuesday. Already missing are Jon Goodman, the Wimbledon forward, who is not considered for the original selection because of injury, and David Kelly, now of Tranmere Rovers, who underwent a cartilage operation after twisting his knee in the 2-0 defeat by Middlesbrough last Saturday.

Middlesbrough's Alan Moore, who is capable of playing in midfield or up front, is also out after aggravating an ankle injury on Tuesday, but in this instance, it seems he should never have been in the squad in the first place.

McCarthy explained yesterday that he had excluded the player from his original squad on the premise that he was injured and would not be available to play for at least another week. Also gone from the equation is Curtis Fleming, another Middlesbrough player who strained his groin in their game on Tuesday.

Fleming travelled to Dublin as scheduled yesterday morning, but after testing his fitness in a training session at Clonshaugh, he was seen to be struggling and returned to Middlesbrough later in the day.

With 10 of the Irish team on yellow cards, it heightens the pressure on McCarthy. There are still 19 players left in the squad and at this point the manager sees no reason to call up replacements.