Former Shamrock Rovers defender Liam Scales has been called into the Republic of Ireland squad ahead of the Nations League match against Scotland at Hampden Park this Saturday as a replacement for Andrew Omobamidele.
Omobamidele, who suffered a groin injury against West Brom on Saturday, has played every minute of Norwich City’s push to return to the Premier League since recovering from back surgery.
The 20 year old was expected to win his sixth cap in Glasgow, with Seàmus Coleman or Dara O’Shea now in line to start alongside in-form centre halves Nathan Collins and John Egan.
Omobamidele’s Norwich teammate Adam Idah was already ruled out of this international window due to a recurring knee problem.
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The uncapped Scales left Rovers for Celtic last year but has since been loaned out to Aberdeen, where he’s been a regular starter.
Meanwhile, in the under 21s squad, Jim Crawford has called up Burnley’s Dara Costelloe, NAC Breda’s Anselmo Garcia MacNulty and St. Patrick’s Athletic duo Adam O’Reilly and David Odumosu. The four players will join the group ahead of Friday’s UEFA European Under-21 Championship Play-Off first leg against Israel at Tallaght Stadium.
They replace Barnsley’s Luca Connell, Como 1907′s Liam Kerrigan, Sheffield Wednesday’s Mark McGuinness and Cork City’s David Harrington who have all been ruled out of the playoffs through injury.
Limerick-native Costelloe is called into his first Ireland squad while O’Reilly returns to an Irish squad for the first-time since he featured for the Men’s Under-19s in November 2019. Garcia McNulty and Odumosu return to the U21s fold for the first time this year having been in squads earlier in the campaign.
The squad met up in Dublin on Sunday and will train at Abbotstown this week.
