Kerr must do without Dunne

Liam Mackey

The Man City man requires surgery on both ankles, and manager Stuart Pearce has reluctantly taken the decision to authorise the operations now rather than at the end of the season. Dunne has had the first operation this week and will have the other one next week.

The injuries also mean that Dunne will miss his club’s final two games of the season.

Said Pearce, who hopes to retain his managerial role next season: “I could, from a personal point of view, have said that I wanted Richard to wait until the end of the season, but I have to be honest to him and to the club and I said to him to get it done so he can be in top shape for the pre-season.

“The way he has been playing, it might have helped my job prospects to have had him available for the last two games of the season. But it was a common-sense decision While Dunne is playing what is regarded to be the best football of his career, he has so far failed to dislodge Brian Kerr’s first choice centre-half partnership of Andy O’ Brien and Kenny Cunningham.

And with the Israel and Faroe Islands games now only four weeks away, Kerr will also be anxious to see how Damien Duff recovers from the hamstring problem which kept him out of Chelsea’s Champions’ League semi-final against Liverpool.