Shane Duffy admits that the Republic of Ireland are struggling to come to terms with forced withdrawals from the squad due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Adam Idah and Aaron Connolly were both pulled out of the Ireland squad at the last minute before their Euro 2020 play-off game with Slovakia after they were deemed to be close contacts with a member of the Irish staff who had returned a positive coronavirus test.
That test was eventually found to be a false positive but then in the build-up to Sunday's Nations League game with Wales, a player tested positive forcing further withdrawals.
The close contacts of that player, John Egan, Callum Robinson, Callum O’Dowda and Alan Browne, were all forced out of the squad leaving manager Stephen Kenny with some tough decisions.
Duffy, who captained Ireland to a 0-0 draw against the Welsh, revealed that the squad are in the dark when it comes to what’s happening.
"It’s been an experience I’d say," he told RTÉ Sport. "I don’t know what to say about it really, there’s something new every day so it’s just about adapting and trying to do our best.
"No-one knows what’s happening and it’s just getting thrown on us every day - something different - so we’ve just got to keep adapting. This is probably the year we’re in.
"We’ve got good medical staff here, we’ve got the best so we’ve got to trust them. It’s all over the world, we can’t do nothing about it.
"We’ve just got to be careful, do all the right things and obviously try to social distance. I know it’s quite difficult and people are getting ruled out with their close contacts, it’s very unfortunate.
"It’s hard because no-one knows what’s happening. There’s nothing even wrong with the players but they’re getting ruled out so it’s quite frustrating, but they’re the rules and we’ve got to adapt."
Duffy himself is happy to step up and fill in the gaps for Ireland. The Celtic defender played every minute of both the Slovakia and Wales games and is ready to do the same in Thursday’s Nations League game against Finland.
"I’ve got a lot of games under my belt and I’m adapting," he said. "It’s what I wanted, it’s game time and it’s good.
"Obviously I’m a little bit tired now but a few days to recover and I’m ready to go again."
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