Finnan and Reid forced to withdraw

IRELAND’S European Championship preparations suffered a further serious setback when Stephen Finnan (Fulham) and Steven Reid (Millwall) were yesterday sent home to their clubs with injuries that ruled them out of Saturday’s game against Georgia and next Wednesday’s match in Albania.

Both players joined up with their Irish colleagues in Dublin on Monday and underwent scans that revealed injuries too serious to expect a full recovery before Ireland travel to Georgia tomorrow.

Finnan missed Fulham’s last two matches because of sore ribs.