Butler out of U21 squad

Thomas Butler has been forced to pull out of the Republic of Ireland Under-21s squad for their back-to-back European Championship qualifiers in Georgia and Albania.

The Sunderland midfielder – one of only two players left in the squad with a senior cap to his name – suffered a torn calf muscle in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at West Ham and did not travel with Don Givens’ squad which left Dublin this morning.