Feeney and Carroll to miss friendly
Monday, 11 February 2002 09:38Warren Feeney's Northern Ireland debut may have to be delayed a little while longer as the Bournemouth striker will miss Wednesday's friendly with Poland because of injury. Northern Ireland boss Sammy McIlroy was hoping to play Feeney at some stage in the friendly, which will be played in Cyprus, after being impressed by his performances this season. However, Feeney's hopes of winning his first international cap have been dashed after was forced to withdraw from the squad with a hamstring injury.
"I'm very disappointed that Feeney is not here," said McIlroy. "He's pacy and can score goals and that's why I brought him in. I wanted to have a closer look at him and I feel really disappointed for the boy that he's had to pull out of his first squad. He has a hamstring injury and there's no way we could take a chance on him. But there will be other squads and his chance will come," he added.
Meanwhile, Roy Carroll became the second withdrawal from McIlroy's squad who are flying out to Limassol today. The Manchester United goalkeeper suffered a back injury during United's 2-0 win at Charlton yesterday. He initally believed he would be fit enough to travel with the rest of the squad but he was forced to pull out late last night. McIlroy had hoped to draft in Oldham's David Miskelly in place of Carroll as Alan Fettis' club York have a vital game on Tuesday and would be unwilling to let their keeper go. However, Miskelly is recovering from a broken shoulder and former under-21 keeper Michael Ingham has been called up instead.
However, the Northern Ireland squad is boosted by the surprise return of captain Steve Lomas. McIlroy had initally left the West Ham midfielder out his squad because he has only just returned from a broken toe but Hammers boss Glenn Roeder gave Lomas his permission to join up with the squad as their FA Cup defeat to Chelsea last week means they have no game this coming weekend.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
