THE REPUBLIC OF Ireland will be without Max Kovalevskis for their U17 World Cup round of 32 tie with Canada this Friday.

And it has been confirmed that the Shamrock Rovers winger is unlikely to to play any further part in the tournament due to Fifa protocols on concussion for players under the age of 18.

Kovalevskis scored in Ireland’s opening 4-1 win over Panama before suffering concussion in the 2-1 defeat of Uzbekistan which initially ruled him out of the draw against Paraguay.

Head coach Colin O’Brien has now revealed that as well as being unavailable for Friday’s game, Kovalevskis will also sit out the remainder of the knockout phase to help allow for a full recovery.

Switzerland or Egypt await in the round of 16 with one of Argentina, Mexico, Portugal or Belgium in the quarter-final.

“We have to follow the FIFA protocols for Max. It’s highly unlikely he’ll feature again in the tournament. It’s a huge blow, he is an absolutely wonderful young man, full of humility, a really popular person within in the squad. It’s the protocol around concussion, especially for players that are under the age of 18, his return to play just won’t fit in with the rest of the period, basically, for the tournament.

“But he’s staying with us. He’s a valuable member. It’s been a tough one for him to take. But when things settle and as he goes on in his career, you can always say he played at a World Cup and scored at a World Cup.

“He has great support here. There’s a fantastic support staff around Max. But more importantly, your best source of support in times like this is your teammates, simple as that and the boys have been absolutely fantastic with him. We have strong harmony and unity there. Everyone is around Max. He’s accepted it now. He’s processed it. But he’s staying around with us because, as I said, he’s such a valuable member.”

O’Brien says Grady O’Connell is “really relishing” the prospect of playing against the country where he was born and grew up. The midfielder was eligible for Ireland due to his grandfather and has been part of the underage set-up since U15 level.

Now 17, he left the Canadian Premier League for the Belgian second tier in January of this year and will be hoping his year can end on a high with further success with Ireland.

While Ireland finished top of their group, Canada were runners-up behind France, although it shows just how close things were that all four teams collected four points.

“They come out of a fairly tough group themselves with France, Uganda and Chile. So, just come into the mindset, every tournament we’re involved with, you just cannot underestimate any team,” O’Brien said.

“They’ve performed well in this tournament so far. We started the prep on them immediately yesterday once we knew the draw last night. They’ve a strong team organisation. They’re very dangerous on the counter-attack, a lot of their players have that kind of American influence in the game there.

“It’s a country where the game is well resourced at youth level, a lot of players playing in the MLS, players in Europe. So they are a very dangerous team in certain aspects, quite athletic, very good in central areas. So, we’ll just have to be at our best.”