SOCCER:JAMES McCARTHY had a contrasting 24 hours when it came to club and country yesterday after being awarded a new five-year contract by Wigan Athletic and then dropped from the Republic of Ireland senior panel for the upcoming European Championship qualifiers and made available to the under-21 side.
The 20-year-old was one of seven players left out from the original panel named by manager Giovanni Trapattoni for the games against Slovakia at the Aviva Stadium on Friday week and the trip to play Russia in Moscow on September 6th.
Of course, the former Hamilton player has not helped his chances after missing the international schedule at the end of last season, while he also pulled out of the recent friendly international against Croatia with an injury picked up in a pre-season friendly against Villarreal.
McCarthy has now been made available to the under-21 side for their friendly away to Cyprus on Friday week in Larnaca.
The Stoke City pairing of Marc Wilson and Jon Walters were also absent from those games and have been dropped for the upcoming qualifiers, with Trapattoni making it clear at the time that he was unhappy with the no-shows for the Nations Cup and friendly against Italy in Liege.
Séamus Coleman (ankle ligaments) and Paul McShane (calf) are out through injury, while Aston Villa utility player Ciarán Clark and Ipswich Town defender Damien Delaney are the other players to make way.
Trapattoni yesterday hinted at the fact that some of the players that have been cut from the squad may yet get a call-up, with a number of injury doubts among the 25-man panel and a full weekend programme to come.
“Picking the final 25 players for the squad has not been an easy task, and unfortunately some players have been left out. We will continue to monitor their progress with their clubs, and call them up if necessary,” said the Italian.
Aiden McGeady has been named among the midfielders despite his absence from the Spartak Moscow team with an ankle injury and the former Celtic player will need to make the side for Sunday’s derby against CSKA if he is to be released by his club.
If McGeady was to miss out, Trapattoni may still call on McCarthy for the double-header that is set to decide top place in Group B, where Ireland are level on 13 points with Russia and Slovakia.
If McCarthy is presently out of favour at international level, the opposite is the case at Wigan, where manager Roberto Martinez has earmarked him as the player to build a team around in coming years.
“James is a young man with a very big future in the game, and it speaks volumes that he has chosen Wigan to carry on his football education,” said Martinez.
“I owe a big debt of loyalty to the club and the gaffer for giving me the chance to prove myself in the Premier League, and I am really pleased to be able to sign this deal,” said McCarthy.
After his international future was secured with an all too brief cameo appearance from the bench in the qualifier against Macedonia earlier this year, the midfielder has barely featured in an Irish jersey since.
Republic Of Ireland Squad
(for Euro 2012 qualifiers against Slovakia on Friday September 2nd and Russia on Tuesday, September 6th)
Goalkeepers
Shay Given (Aston Villa), Keiren Westwood (Sunderland), David Forde (Millwall).
Defenders
John O’Shea (Sunderland), Kevin Foley (Wolves), Stephen Kelly (Fulham), Stephen Ward (Wolves), Richard Dunne (Aston Villa), Kevin Kilbane (Derby), Seán St Ledger (Leicester City), Darren O’Dea (Leeds Utd).
Midfielders
Glenn Whelan (Stoke City), Darron Gibson (Manchester Utd), Keith Andrews (Ipswich Town), Keith Fahey (Birmingham City), Andy Keogh (Leeds Utd), Damien Duff (Fulham), Aiden McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Stephen Hunt (Wolves), Liam Lawrence (Portsmouth), Keith Treacy (Burnley).
Forwards
Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy), Kevin Doyle (Wolves), Shane Long (West Brom), Simon Cox (West Brom).
