Captain Coleman set to miss playoff as Kenny hopes players come through busy Sunday schedule

Macdara Ferris reports from Abbotstown

It wasn’t exactly Super Saturday TV viewing for Stephen Kenny yesterday when he was watching on as his captain Seamus Coleman picked up a hamstring injury that the Republic of Ireland manager said today “will most likely rule him out” of next week’s play-off against Slovakia.

The Ireland boss had been slightly delayed in coming to the first press briefing for this international triple header as he had been waiting on news on a scan of Coleman’s injury.

Kenny admitted he had a busy Saturday fielding phonecalls on his players – including the news that Blackburn Rovers player Darragh Lenhihan would miss out due to a knee injury while he is waiting on news of Harry Arter who has a thigh issue.

Kenny hopes Sunday will be quieter even if there are 11 players from his squad playing today with Conor Hourihane’s match with Aston Villa not kicking off until 7.15pm which is not ideal. 

“With Seamus Coleman it is not great news. He was disappointed. He loves playing for his country. He is very passionate Irishman and captain. He knows it is an important game. 

“We have a good squad but it is disappointing to lose our captain. Seamus is in brilliant form in the last few weeks and played an exceptional game yesterday. it is just one of those situations. There is nothing we can do. Hopefully today we will get good news in relation to the players.

Kenny noted that there will likely be further calls up and confirmed that Kevin Long will join up with the squad. “Kevin could consider himself unfortunate not to be included in the first place. He has been playing regularly in the Premier League. Delighted to have him in.”

The squad will train on Monday and Tuesday before flying out to Slovakia and Kenny is looking to make the most of what he described as “a short build up”.

“There is not much time. There is no excuse. We aren’t complaining. We will do our analysis and speak to people individually and there will be clear instructions. There will be no grey areas in what is expected.”

Coleman had been in pursuit of Aaron Connolly when he picked up that injury and Kenny was aksed in relation to the Brighton player did he see him only as someone who would play on the left of a front three. 

“Aaron Connolly is essentially a centre forward. He grew up in that position and I’m sure that is where he sees himself. I’m not questioning that and that is where he scored his goals. He played on the left wing with the u21s with great success because we have quite a few centre forwards who we wanted to accommodate. 

“Pace is so important in international football and he has pace and that is a great asset to us. I’ve played him on the right, left and centre forward. When he is playing in a wider area he is happier coming off the left than the right. Long term he will most likely be a centre forward and we have to maximise the talent that we have in the team.”