Preston's Alan Browne has been ruled out of the European Championship qualifiers against Denmark and Gibraltar due to a calf injury he picked up while training with the Irish squad in Portugal.
The 24-year-old is to stay with the squad until it returns to Ireland on Tuesday but after seeing the results of a scan of the injury, Ireland manager Mick McCarthy says that the Corkman will not be fit enough to be considered for the two qualifying games.
“Alan has been very unlucky with injuries this season,” he says. “An ankle injury kept him out of the two games in March and now this calf problem has ruled him out of the matches against Gibraltar and Denmark.”
In the wake of Mark Travers suffering a hand injury, McCarthy added two goalkeepers to the group over the weekend with Bristol City's Max O'Leary having already joined up with the squad in the Algarve, where he trained on Saturday.
The 22-year-old from Bath, who qualifies to represent Ireland thanks to his Kerry-born grandfather, will not be available for the European games as he only going through the process of securing his Irish passport
“This is a good opportunity to have a look at him and for him to meet up with the lads,” said McCarthy.
“He’s had a very good season with Bristol City and was very keen to do what he needed to to become eligible for us, so we will take a close look at him in training and leave the process of getting his passport up to our international department.
"Max will give us another option at goalkeeper and he gets the chance to train alongside Darren [Randolph] and Seán [McDermott], and work with our goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly, for a few days."
Bohemians goalkeeper James Talbot has been called up as cover for Randolph and McDermott. The Dubliner will join up with the squad on Tuesday but will return to his club for the forthcoming games against Finn Harps and UCD.
“Our goalkeeping coach, Alan Kelly, had been keeping an eye on the lad and he has done very well,” says the Ireland manager.
"We are happy to release him to play for his club. I've spoken to Keith Long and he's been very supportive. And he's delighted for James. We understand it's an important time for Bohemians but equally this is a great opportunity for James to come in with us."
