James McClean ‘tweak’ raises Irish fears

The initial word on why James McClean sat out Irish training yesterday didn’t sound too serious — the West Brom man had a “tweak” in his back.

But later, and before the player had a scan on the problem, Roy Keane revealed his own troubled gut feeling about the nature of what could turn out to be a significant new injury worry ahead of Saturday’s World Cup qualifier away to Austria.

“It’s not good,” said the assistant manager. “I never like when I hear players with tweaks in and around the back area. The back — it’s not a good area. If you said to me he got a kick on his knee or his ankle, that’s fine. But tweaks in backs... I don’t like the sound of it.”