Robbie Keane: The hurler aiming to be on the pitch at Euros

From Daryl Murphy a while back, then more recently Robbie Keane and now Jon Walters, we seem to have devoted so much space to reporting on one specific part of the legs of Irish footballers bound for France that perhaps it’s time we began referring to them collectively as ‘a herd’ of calf injuries.

At Ireland’s Fota Island base yesterday, there was the troubling sight of Walters leaving the training pitch without having taken any part in the morning session, and making the long, slow walk in the sunshine to the on-site gym in the company of a physio. Confirmation duly emerged the Stoke City man had received a kick to the calf in the previous day’s session but there was also immediate word the damage was no more than “minor” and that his missing training was purely precautionary.

Still, he’s now another key player on whom updates from Martin O’Neill will be awaited with hope but also some concern over the coming days.