Dundee United defender Will Ferry has been called into the Republic of Ireland squad for the first time with Sammie Szmodics and Callum O'Dowda both set to miss the World Cup qualifiers with Portugal and Armenia.
Ferry has previously represented Ireland at Under-19 and U21 level and has caught the eye since moving to the Scotland Premiership from Cheltenham Town last season and has captained the side this year in the absence of Ross Graham who required hamstring surgery.
He played a big role as the side secured European football last season, but they were unable to make the Uefa Conference League group stage after a heart-breaking penalty shoot-out loss to Rapid Vienna with Ferry converting his spot-kick having earlier provided the assist for Max Watters' opener.
O'Dowda was set to make his return to the squad following fine performances for Hungarian champions Ferencvaros in his debut season, but he came off injured in their Europa League win over Genk last week and was not in the squad for their league clash with Paks on Sunday.
Szmodics was replaced late on as Ipswich defeated Norwich City in Sunday’s English Championship clash.
After facing Portugal in the opening match of the window on Saturday (11 Oct), Heimir Hallgrimsson's side host Armenia in Dublin three days later (14 October).
They will not operate with a 23-man squad for those fixtures, which includes recalled trio Troy Parrott, Seamus Coleman and John Egan.
Watch Republic of Ireland Under-21s v Slovakia Under-21s in UEFA European Championship qualifying on Friday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
Watch Portugal v Republic of Ireland in World Cup qualifying on Saturday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live radio commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
