Andrews to miss Armenia and Andorra clashes

REPUBLIC of Ireland midfielder Keith Andrews has been ruled out of the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Armenia and Andorra after failing to recover from the groin strain that has kept him sidelined in recent weeks.

The Blackburn midfielder is expected to be out for another two weeks.

The rest of the Republic squad will assemble in Malahide later this evening, although question marks remain over the availability of Keith Treacy and Paul McShane.

Treacy was injured during Preston’s 1-0 defeat at his former club Sheffield United on Saturday. The winger, who rattled the crossbar with a third-minute free-kick, hobbled off just before the hour and his injury will be assessed by the Irish medical team tomorrow.

McShane, who picked up a calf injury in the Carling Cup earlier in the week, didn’t feature for Hull yesterday.

Concerns over Kevin Doyle’s fitness prompted Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni to draft Cillian Sheridan into his squad on Friday, but the forward allayed those fears and lasted 72 minutes against Newcastle.

His strike partner for Ireland, Robbie Keane, was an unused sub during Tottenham’s shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Wigan.

Glenn Whelan was unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet during Stoke’s 2-0 loss at league leaders Chelsea. The Irish midfielder, sprung from the bench after 50 minutes with his side 1-0 down, almost drew stoke level but his stunning 25-yard drive cracked against the crossbar and away to safety.

Aidan McGeady is still waiting to make his Spartak Moscow debut following his €12m transfer from Celtic. McGeady had been expected to feature in yesterday’s match with Terek Grozny – Spartak lost 2-0 – but was omitted from the travelling party.

Mark Hughes, meanwhile, has confirmed his intention to bring Shay Given to Craven Cottage before tomorrow’s transfer deadline. Hughes is hoping to sign the keeper on loan from Manchester City. Given was signed by Hughes for City in January 2009.

“Mark Schwarzer has made it clear that he would like to go to Arsenal so we are trying to look at other options,” Hughes said. “I’m always interested in quality players and Shay is a quality player. But if we can’t get anyone else in, Schwarzer will have to stay.”