'No room for manoeuvre' for Dundalk who will have to play games without internationals 

New signings Sonni Nattestad and Raivis Jurkovskis have been called up to the Faroe Islands and Latvian squads for their respective World Cup qualifying fixtures next week

Sonni Nattestad of Dundalk leaves the pitch after receiving a red card during the FAI President's Cup final. Dundalk have been unable to get matches postponed while Nattestad and Raivis Jurkovskis are away on international duty as the rule only applies to Ireland call-ups. Picture: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Dundalk may be without two or three of their top players for up to four big matches this season due to what team manager Shane Keegan described as "one of the strangest rules" he has seen.

With new signings Sonni Nattestad and Raivis Jurkovskis being called up to the Faroe Islands and Latvian squads for their respective World Cup qualifying fixtures next week, the Co Louth side had been expecting that their home game against Finn Harps on match day two would be postponed.

However, Keegan only discovered today that the rules allowing for a game to be called off if two or more players are called up for international duty only applies to players from the Republic and Northern Ireland.

With goalkeeper Alessio Abibi also on the fringes of the Albanian squad that could leave Dundalk without several key players for not only the Finn Harps match on March 26 but also the trip to face Waterford on September 3, the home fixture with reigning champions Shamrock Rovers on October 8 and the Louth derby with neighbours Drogheda Utd in the penultimate game of the season on November 12.

Keegan, whose side are preparing for their league opener away to Sligo Rovers on Saturday, called for the ruling to be looked at going forward but admitted his side would have to put up with it for this season at least.

"In fairness to the FAI, the explanation I got was that this is a rule set out in the participation agreement which is something technically agreed by the clubs. It's very black and white so we can't argue.

"There's no room for manoeuvre there really.

"We have plenty of quality there and it's up to us to make sure it doesn't become an issue by others stepping up to the plate.

"I think it's something that the clubs will need to look at before the start of next year.

"I suppose it was something that was agreed without much thought because we didn't really have mass volumes of internationals from outside of the Republic. I don't really understand what the thinking was behind it but the FAI's argument is that it's not our rule, it is the participation agreement which is something that you're involved with coming up with.

"It seems a very, very strange one because Abibi could be called up too. He has been in the past and he's going to be in with a chance of being called up so it seems a strange one and it's going to make life a little bit more difficult on ourselves but look we have good strength in depth too so we just have to try and cope with it," he said.

Looking ahead to Saturday's trip to The Showgrounds, Dundalk are hopeful of having Michael Duffy and Brian Gartland back in contention having both sat out pre-season but will have to wait until Thursday to see if Nattestad is available.

The centre half was sent-off in Friday's President's Cup victory over Shamrock Rovers and faces a suspension but the club have appealed the decision.

Sean Murray, Daniel Kelly and Ole Erik Midtskogen remain unavailable.

Keegan, who was given a new title last week with former head coach Filippo Giovagnoli downgraded to coach due to his lack of a Pro Licence, also dismissed Sligo boss Liam Buckley's criticism over the arrangement the day before when he questioned why anyone should pay to do the Pro Licence when certain clubs were skirting the rules.

Asked was it something that wouldn't go away this season, Keegan said: "Look I don't know really.

"It's not like the club didn't make any attempts to try and get Filippo on a Pro Licence either. To be fair to Stephen Bradley, I think he got it right the previous week in that all any of us can do is look at our own house.

"I don't really feel like I'm in a position to comment on the setup anywhere else and as managers and management teams we have so much going on in-house that we have to deal with ourselves that commenting on what has been said by any other management teams isn't really something that I'd be overly interested in to be honest with you," said the Laois man.