The Ireland camp met up on Sunday as they prepare for Friday’s World Cup qualifier with Wales at the Aviva Stadium and as always, there was a few fallers at the final hurdle of clubs games over the weekend.
With Shane Duffy and Robbie Brady already ruled out of this week’s vital clash with Chris Coleman’s Wales through injury and suspension respectively, Ireland manager Martin O’Neill would have endured an anxious weekend waiting for updates about his squad members ahead of their Dublin meet on Sunday evening.
With several defenders carrying knocks into last weekend’s games O’Neill would have certainly have been keen to see what sort of action centre-half Ciaran Clark would see as Newcastle travelled to Birmingham.
However, the former Aston Villa defender, who has become a firm favourite of the Ireland manager was not named in the Newcastle match-day squad, which ruled him out of the international action, and as a result both centre-halves who started against Austria in November miss out this week.
Harry Arter is another unexpected injury for O’Neill to cope with as the Bournemouth man was left out of their squad for the clash with Swansea and misses this week’s encounter.
Wes Hoolahan, however, did join up with the squad in Dublin, which will be encouraging for the Ireland manager as the midfielder came off injured for Norwich at the weekend.
So Ireland resume their quest to qualify for the 2018 World Cup on Friday night and Martin O’Neill’s side will be looking to cement their place at the top of Group D.
Ireland currently sit four points clear of Friday’s opponents and O’Neill’s side will know that victory over the Euro 2016 semi-finalists will put a real dent in the Welsh hopes of making it to Russia.
But this Wales team are a very strong unit and it looks as though they will have a full-strength squad to choose from for the trip to Dublin with talisman Gareth Bale back to full fitness and form, while other key players like Aaron Ramsey, Joe Allen, Ashley Williams and Wayne Hennessey are all available for selection.
And while Friday’s match is not necessarily a must-win encounter for O’Neill’s Ireland, anything other than three points will likely allow Serbia to close the gap at the top of the group as the second-placed side face Georgia, albeit away from home.
The other game in Group D sees Austria, who are six points behind Ireland, attempt to kick-start their campaign as they take on bottom side Moldova.
