Withdrawals leave King frustrated

Ahead of today’s concluding Uefa qualifier against Italy in Casarano, Ireland U21 boss Noel King has admitted he’s disappointed with some of the withdrawals from his squad.

Ireland went into Thursday’s penultimate qualifier in Hungary still with qualification prospects for next year’s finals but those were dented by three pull-outs.

James Collins, Conor Clifford and Niall Canavan all cried off the international double-header last weekend only to feature for their League One clubs since.

A rib injury was cited for the absence of Collins but his boss Paolo Di Canio had no hesitation in starting his forward against Leyton Orient on Saturday.

Chelsea midfielder Clifford, meanwhile, had become increasingly frustrated with his lack of game-time despite earning promotion to the senior squad for last year’s friendly against Croatia.

“We’ve had four or five withdrawals from every squad and I think most have been genuine,” said King.

“It’s hard to take but sometimes players get injured or are wanted by their clubs. That’s the frustrating part of the job but there’s no point moaning about it.”

King will experiment for today’s fixture against the group winners Italy at the Giuseppe Capozza Stadium with one eye on the next campaign.

With Robbie Brady’s elevation to the senior frame adding to the suspension enforced absences of Greg Cunningham, Rhys Murphy, Shane Duffy and Jeff Hendrick, a number of graduates from the U19 squad which reached the semi-final of the UEFA Championship last year are set to feature.

Matt Doherty (Wolves), John O’Sullivan (Blackburn Rovers) and Connor Smith (Watford) were the latest trio from that panel handed their debut call-ups over the weekend.

“We’ve filtered some of the U19 group in throughout the campaign and it’s only right we use this game to look at more future players,” said King.

IRELAND (probable): McCarey (Wolves); Doherty (Wolves), Kiernan (Wigan Athletic), Egan (Sunderland), Williams (Aston Villa); Carruthers (Aston Villa), Henderson (Arsenal), O’Kane (Bournemouth); Forde (Wolves), Doran (Inverness), White (Leeds United).