Confusion surrounding the absence of James McCarthy and Marc Wilson put a dampener on Ireland’s 5-0 Carling Nations Cup win over Northern Ireland last night.
Suspicion surrounded McCarthy’s whereabouts earlier in the week after it was believed that the young Wigan midfielder simply failed to report for duty following Wigan’s victory over Stoke on Sunday, a win that sealed their Premier League status for next season.
It has since been revealed that the Irish medical team were made aware that McCarthy was going for a scan on an injured ankle, but after receiving details of the scan, they believe that the injury wasn’t serious enough to force him out of last night’s clash.
This contradicted the claims of his club manager Roberto Martinez, who said that the 20-year old required three to four week’s rest, which would rule him out of the Euro 2012 qualifying clash with Macedonia next month.
McCarthy more than likely indulged in some celebrations following Wigan’s remarkable victory on Sunday and who could blame him for not wanting to show up for a lacklustre tournament that, based on attendances so far, has failed to capture the imagination of supporters.
Given the hullabaloo that surrounded McCarthy’s international future earlier this year and the propensity of Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni to hold grudges, this unsavoury episode will unfortunately cast major doubt over McCarthy’s future in an Irish jersey.
Ireland are currently clearly lacking players of his ilk in central midfield, relying instead on willing but limited alternatives such as Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews and dare I even mention Paul Green.
Having been named to make his first start for Ireland at left back last night, meanwhile, Stoke’s Marc Wilson was also nowhere to be seen, after failing to report for duty as scheduled.
Neither of Wilson’s Stoke team mates, Glenn Whelan and Jonathan Walters were involved last night and it remains to be seen whether or not Wilson’s absence will cost him a place in the squad for the Carling Nations Cup clash with Scotland and the clash with Macedonia in Skopje on 4 June.
The furore over missing players cast a shadow on what was otherwise a satisfying win over a truly awful Norn Iron side, with Simon Cox and Stephen Ward grabbing debut goals to compliment a Robbie Keane brace and a Craig Cathcart own goal in a ridiculously one-sided affair.
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