Breen out of World Cup qualifiers

REPUBLIC of Ireland manager Brian Kerr has lost another defender to injury ahead of his side’s triple bill of fixtures in the next fortnight.

Kerr, without the services of Manchester City centre-back Richard Dunne, who underwent a double ankle operation before the end of the season, has now seen Sunderland’s Gary Breen withdraw.

The 31-year-old has failed to recover from a knee injury sustained in the final game of Sunderland’s promotion- winning campaign from the Coca-Cola Championship, a 1-0 win at home to Stoke.

Breen is out of Sunday’s testimonial game against Celtic at Parkhead, as well as the World Cup qualifying matches with Israel at Lansdowne Road on June 4 and the Faroe Islands in Torshavn on June 8.

Kerr confirmed: “Gary’s knee injury has failed to respond to daily treatment since the last game of the season and he has had to withdraw from these games.

“I am disappointed to lose a defender of Gary’s experience, but I am hopeful he will be fit to return for the autumn internationals.”

Meanwhile, Scotland’s surprise win over Wales in the opening tie of the Four Nations tournament in Cork has had the effect of firing the ambitions of all four teams.

Wales, the winners of last year’s tournament, include 11 members of that successful squad and for that reason were identified as joint favourites with England before the kick-off.

Their defeat by Scotland, taken in context with Ireland’s spirited performance before losing 0-1 to England, suggested the current competition will be the most competitive in its four-year history.

Scotland’s chief coach, Jim Fleeting, refused to allow their 5-1 win affect his pragmatic approach to the upcoming games against Ireland and England.

He went to pains to point to the most satisfying aspect of Scotland’s opening performance when he said: “It was very good to get off to a winning start, it was wonderful,” he said.

“What was most pleasing for us was the whole team performance.

“We scored five but I am sure that guys who scored up front will make due reference to the efforts of the guys behind them in keeping Wales out.”

Ireland manager Stuart Ashton inevitably showed signs of disappointment after the 0-1 loss and said: “The way the game panned out we were a little upset.

“Over the 90 minutes I thought we had the better chances and created more problems for their defence but unfortunately we did not capitalise upon that.

“Instead we got caught by a dubious goal and I believe nine times out of 10 the goalkeeper would have been given a free out in those circumstances.”

Ashton’s reference to the England goal drew attention to the fact that Irish ’keeper Mark McNulty was impeded by an England forward as he tried to reach the scoring lob of Anthony Elding in the 68th minute of the match.

Wales and England, who play each other tonight at the Mardyke, will now be hoping that Ireland will be able to check Scotland when they face off against them this evening at St Colman’s Park at 7.45pm.