King calls up McCarthy for Ireland’s Cyprus test

WIGAN midfielder James McCarthy has been named in Noel King’s 19-man squad U21 for their friendly international against Cyprus in Larnaca on February 9.

The 20-year-old made a scoring return after a three-month injury lay-off in the Latics’ 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Tuesday night but was not included in Giovanni Trapattoni’s squad for the senior side’s Nations Cup clash against Wales on February 8.

American-born striker Conor Doyle is included in an Irish panel for the first time after impressing for Derby County this season, while King also named Cypriot-based duo Mikey Collins and Robbie Gibbons in his squad.

“This friendly against Cyprus is a great opportunity to finally get the squad together and I am looking forward to seeing them play as a team after watching them individually over the last number of months,” said King.

“While the draw for the upcoming UEFA Championship takes place on February 3, there is a possibility we could be playing two qualifiers in March and that is why this friendly could be so important,” he said.

McCarthy, meanwhile, says Wigan’s six remaining home matches will be “pivotal” to their hopes of avoiding the drop to the Championship.

The defeat to Aston Villa means Wigan have now won only one match in the last 11 ahead of a vital Premier League trip to fellow strugglers West Brom next Tuesday night.

But the 20-year-old is targeting the forthcoming visits of Blackburn, Manchester United, Birmingham, Tottenham, Everton and West Ham as opportunities to harvest enough points to get out of trouble.

McCarthy said: “There are still a lot of home games still to go which are going to be pivotal, Blackburn being the next one.’’

Republic of Ireland squad to play Cyprus: Ritchie Branagan (Bury), Ian McLoughlin (Ipswich), Gavin Gunning (Blackburn Rovers), Shane Duffy (Everton), Rob Kiernan (Watford), Mark Connolly (Bolton), Richie Towell (Hibernian), Johnny Dunleavy (Barnet), Shane O’Connor (Ipswich), James McCarthy (Wigan), Conor Clifford (Chelsea), Conor Hourihane (Ipswich), Aaron Doran (Inverness CT), Jamie Devitt (Hull City), Conor Doyle (Derby), Robbie Brady (Manchester United), James Collins (Shrewsbury Town), Mikey Collins (APEP), Robbie Gibbons (Alki Larnaca).

Standby list: Lanre Oyebanjo (Histon), Damien McCrory (Dagenham & Redbridge), Enda Stevens (Shamrock Rovers), Daniel Kearns (Dundalk), Gearoid Morrissey (Cork City), Jeff Hendrick (Derby County), Ronan Murray (Ipswich Town), Sean Scannell (Crystal Palace), Joe Mason (Plymouth Argyle), Ronan Murray (Ipswich), Paddy Madden (Bohemians).