AARON CONNOLLY AND Adam Idah will miss Ireland’s upcoming Nations League games with Wales and Finland.

Sean Maguire and Daryl Horgan have been called up in their place. 

Connolly and Idah missed last night’s playoff semi-final loss to Slovakia as they were identified as close contacts of a Covid-positive member of a non-playing member of the FAI backroom staff. 

The member of staff tested negative for the virus before departure for Slovakia, but tested positive when tested the day before the game. 

Connolly and Idah were identified as close contacts as they sat less than the mandated two metres from the member of staff on the flight to Bratislava. They were seated 1.7 and 1.9 metres from the staff member, and were forced to self-isolate under the Irish public health guidelines. 

The FAI appealed to the HSE in the hope they would be cleared to play, but to no avail. 

Connolly and Idah, along with the member of FAI staff, have been isolating in their hotel room in Bratislava since yesterday morning. The players are now set to return to their clubs in England. Neither player has tested positive for Covid-19. 

As a result they will miss the Nations League games at home to Wales on Sunday, and the trip to Helsinki next Wednesday. Preston striker Maguire has been called up – he was involved in last month’s Nations League games as a replacement for the injured Troy Parrott – along with Daryl Horgan, who played under Stephen Kenny at Dundalk. 

Horgan has been a regular in the Wycombe Wanderers side in the early weeks of this season, having joined the Championship club from Hibernian last month. 

The Irish players and management team will be tested for Covid-19 again today, as is the protocol of the biosecure “bubble” which allows them travel back to Ireland without the need for quarantine.