Stephanie Roche ruled out of crunch games with Norway

Colin Bell has said he won’t consider selecting Stephanie Roche for Ireland’s back-to-back World Cup qualifiers against Norway in June.

The Sunderland striker originally suffered a tibia fracture in the September victory over Northern Ireland but her time on the sidelines has been prolonged by setbacks and complications during her recovery.

Now, the women’s team manager has confirmed that the crunch games against the Norwegians will come too soon for one of the most high-profile members of the Irish squad.