IRELAND MANAGER GIOVANNI Trapattoni is likely to be without his best defender for Ireland’s upcoming friendly with the Czech Republic.
Richard Dunne fell awkwardly after a challenge with Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart near the end of Aston Villa’s Premier League defeat at Villa Park yesterday and was taken off with a suspected dislocated shoulder.
He is due to see a specialist this morning and results of a scan will confirm the length of time he will spend on the sidelines, which could be between one month and eight weeks.
“Richard’s not going to be back for the next game that’s for sure,” said Villa manager Alex McLeish on ESPN. “He’s definitely damaged his shoulder.
I don’t know how serious it is, but I do believe he will be out for at least a month. That’s serious enough. It’s part of the bad luck we’ve been having recently.”
Dunne was named in the Ireland squad on Friday and is central to Trapattoni’s plans for the European Championships this summer.
While there is no reason to believe the 32-year0-old won’t have recovered by the finals, the loss of one of the team’s key players in the run-up to June is a major blow.
Team-mate Ciaran Clark, who wasn’t in the 24-man panel for the Czech game, will also be out of action for some time after damaging knee ligaments.
Everton’s Shane Duffy has received a call-up to replace Dunne for the February 29 fixture.
Watch Dunne’s fall from yesterday afternoon:
YouTube credit: ackford9583