St Ledger injury worries Trap

Giovanni Trapattoni has been handed another defensive headache with the news that Sean St Ledger is a doubt for the friendly game away to Serbia on Wednesday week.

The Leicester defender had scans on a knee injury after he was forced out of the Foxes’ pre-season win over Burton after just nine minutes. And Leicester manager Nigel Pearson fears the centre-half could be out for some time.

“We were unlucky to pick up an injury with Sean but we’ll have to see how that is in the morning,” he said.

St Ledger tweeted: “Had my scan this morning, waiting for the results. . .tick tock tick tock....”.

While the player might be a doubt for Serbia, Trapattoni will be more concerned about his availability for the opening World Cup qualifier away to Kazakhstan on September 7, given Richard Dunne is already out of that game with a groin problem.

Meanwhile Paul Doolin has agreed a contract extension to remain as Ireland Under-19 manager for another two seasons. The Dubliner will retain his current portfolio for the upcoming UEFA U19 qualification campaign which begins with a mini-group pre-qualification phase in October when Ireland face Germany, Macedonia and hosts Luxembourg.

Plans to appoint a successor to Ireland U17 boss John Morling are advanced with Donegal native Tom Mohan understood to be favourite.