Crocked Hunt a doubt for Euros

Wolves and Ireland are sweating on the fitness of Stephen Hunt after the winger was forced to visit a specialist for the second time in two weeks yesterday as he looks to get to the bottom of a nagging groin injury.

Hunt, who hasn’t started a Premier League game this year, has struggled with the injury for a few weeks and was forced to pull out of training on Tuesday.

There are now fears that he could miss the remainder of the season, a significant blow to Wolves’ slim hopes of avoiding relegation.

Hunt’s injury travails will be a source of concern for Giovanni Trapattoni, with Ireland’s opening Euro 2012 Group C game against Croatia just 65 days away.

“Stephen Hunt pulled out of training yesterday and he’s seeing a specialist today,” Wolves manager Terry Connor said yesterday.

“It’s the ongoing stuff with his groin. He was on the bench [against Bolton] on Saturday and trained on Monday and felt it, and he trained yesterday morning.

“But the general consensus of opinion was he’d get it looked at.

“We were prepared to use him as a sub on Saturday because he didn’t have 90 minutes in him.

“But, having tried him on Monday and yesterday, we feel the best thing for Stephen was for the doctors to take another look and see if they can get to the root of the problem.”

While Hunt is sweating on his fitness Norwich playmaker Wes Hoolahan and Derby midfielder Paul Green are hoping they will be included in Trapattoni’s final 23-man squad for the finals.

“It’s simple really, I just hope that if I keep playing for Norwich, and playing well, the call-up might come,” Hoolahan told the Evening Herald.

“I heard that Trapattoni came to see Norwich against Wolves the other week. I played well and a few of the papers named me as man of the match so maybe he was impressed.

“I haven’t given up hope, you can never stop dreaming. Players might pull out, you might have an injury or two and I’m realistic enough to know that I’d need something like that to happen for me to make the squad.’’

Green received a surprise call-up for February’s friendly against the Czech Republic and came on as a second-half substitute in the 1-1 draw.

“I was shocked to play half an hour against the Czech Republic, as I didn’t expect to get on,’’ Green told the Derby Telegraph.

“I was just glad to be back in the squad.

“It would be nice to get on the plane — that would be one of the biggest achievements of my career, if not the biggest.

“Hopefully, I can get there but I know how tough it is going to be to get in.”

Meanwhile, tickets for the friendly against Bosnia on May 26, Ireland’s final home game before the finals, go on sale today at 9am.

Tickets start at €20 for adults and €10 for kids and are available from www.ticketmaster.ie