Soccer

McCarthy drops down to under-21s

Soccer: Promising enough to be awarded a five-year contract at Wigan this morning, James McCarthy was this afternoon dropped…

Tue Aug 23 2011 - 01:00

Soccer:Promising enough to be awarded a five-year contract at Wigan this morning, James McCarthy was this afternoon dropped down to the Republic of Ireland under-21 side as Giovanni Trapattoni trimmed his squad for the vital European Championship qualifiers against Slovakia and Russia early nerxt month.

The manager announced his 25-man squad this afternoon, with seven players missing out, although Everton’s Seamus Coleman (ankle ligaments) and Hull defender Paul McShane (calf) are ruled out through injury.

Aston Villa’s promising utility player Ciaran Clark also misses out, as does Ipswich Town defender Damien Delaney and the Stoke city duo of Marc Wilson and Jon Walters.

McCarthy missed out on Ireland’s fixtures at the end of last season, while an injury ruled him out of the recent friendly against Croatia and the 20-year-old has now been made available to the under-21 side for their friendly away to Cyprus on Friday week.

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Aiden McGeady has been named amongst the midfielders, although reports from Russia are that the Spartak Moscow player will not train until next week because of an ankle injury. The Ireland squad are due to arrive in Dublin on Sunday ahead of Friday week’s clash against Slovakia before they head to Mioscow to take on Russia on September 6th.

Speaking today, Trapattoni hinted at the fact that some of the players that have been cut from the squad may yet get a call-up, with a full programme of games taking place this weekend.

“Picking the final 25 players for the squad has not been an easy task, and unfortunately some players have been left out. We will continue to monitor their progress with their clubs, and call them up if necessary,” said the Italian.

IRELAND SQUAD Goalkeepers
Shay Given (Aston Villa), Keiren Westwood (Sunderland), David Forde (Millwall).

DefendersJohn O'Shea (Sunderland), Kevin Foley (Wolves), Stephen Kelly (Fulham), Stephen Ward (Wolves), Richard Dunne (Aston Villa), Kevin Kilbane (Derby), Seán St Ledger (Leicester City), Darren O'Dea (Leeds Utd).

MidfieldersGlenn Whelan (Stoke City), Darron Gibson (Manchester Utd), Keith Andrews (Ipswich Town), Keith Fahey (Birmingham City), Andy Keogh (Leeds Utd), Damien Duff (Fulham), Aiden McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Stephen Hunt (Wolves), Liam Lawrence (Portsmouth), Keith Treacy (Burnley).

ForwardsRobbie Keane (LA Galaxy), Kevin Doyle (Wolves), Shane Long (West Brom), Simon Cox (West Brom).