Kevin Foley felt "betrayed" by Giovanni Trapattoni's decision to leave him out of the Republic of Ireland squad for Euro 2012.
The 27-year-old defender was stunned to discover that he will not be going to Poland and Ukraine after manager Giovanni Trapattoni opted not to name him in his final 23 for the tournament yesterday.
Foley said: "It is hard to take, you know. I sort of feel betrayed. I don't want to go into too much detail. I just feel betrayed."
Trapattoni dropped his bombshell shortly before the final 23 names had to be submitted to UEFA yesterday lunchtime.
Foley, who was among the initial squad announced on 7 May, was replaced by Paul McShane, who had been on stand-by before being drafted into the party as defensive cover last week.
The Wolves full-back has spent the last week or so working his way back to fitness after a hamstring problem, but although he trained with his team-mates on Monday, Trapattoni decided injury concerns over John O'Shea and Darren O'Dea made McShane a better option.
Foley said: "I wanted to prove a point, that I was fit to play because from what I understood, I could have trained last week, Thursday, Friday and been involved in the game [against Bosnia on Saturday].
"He (Trapattoni) said there was no rush and we will wait to train in Italy, so I trained for two days in Italy and felt great. And then all of a sudden, he pulls me this morning just before the end and says, 'You are not in the squad', and that is hard to take.
"I have done everything I can. That is all I can do. Words can't really describe it. It was tough."
"I have done everything I can. That is all I can do. Words can't really describe it. It was tough."
"The lads have been great, but what happened happened, there's nothing I can do about it now. I hope the lads go on and do as well as they can from the tournament."
Trapattoni admitted after last night's 5-0 friendly victory over a Tuscan Select XI, in which Foley appeared as a half-time substitute, that the decision to exclude him had been an intensely difficult one.
He invited the player to remain with the squad, which heads for Hungary on Sunday and then Poland two days later.
However, Foley said: "I go home tomorrow. I don't want to talk about that. It's a lot to take in."
Several of Foley's team-mates have reacted to his departure from the Ireland squad.
Defender Stephen Kelly said the whole group were disappointed that Foley had to leave and stressed that he will be in their thoughts when the tournament kicks off.
Kelly said: "It is obviously heartbreaking for Kevin to be involved this far up and to get that news. All we can do is just say sorry and pat him on the back.
"It is one of those things. Football does give people blows and knocks people down, but it's a very difficult situation to take.
"We're all very close and we're all extremely disappointed for him. That's the nature of the beast, with the way these tournaments are.
"The manager has always had 26 or 27 players in his squad and there have always been whispers that the manager would have to cut it down at some point.
"For Kevin to be in the initial 23 and to be out of it now is extremely disappointing, but all we can do is offer him our condolences and wish him the best.
"I'm sure we'll all be thinking about him when we're away. It might galvanise us together as a team."
"It's very important that the manager makes these decisions and we trust him," said Richard Dunne when asked about Trapattoni's handling of the issue.
"It's unfortunate for Kevin but we have to move on and Kevin will support us as he always does.
"We're such a tight unit, we don't want to see anyone left out. It was just the same with Keith Fahey last week."
Striker Shane Long said: "Obviously he's disappointed. I'm sure he'll be ready to come back in if called upon."
Jonathan Walters, however, refused to make any comment on the matter when speaking to journalists last night.
He said: "I had a word with him earlier on today, but I'll let Kevin speak for himself on that one. I won't be commenting on that."
