Dundalk manager Shane Keegan laments unavailability of key players due to international call-ups

Shane Keegan will be without several key players as Dundalk are set to be hit with a number of international call-ups in the upcoming international window. 

Centre-half Sonni Nattestad has been drafted into the Faroe Islands squad for their World Cup qualifiers away to Moldova, Austria and Scotland. Latvia have selected full-back Raivis Jurkovskis for their games against Montenegro, the Netherlands and Turkey. 

These call-ups will affect the game against Finn Harps at home and maybe some future international windows which fall within the domestic calendar. 

Asked on why there was no postponement due to the international call-ups, Dundalk manager Shane Keegan enlightened the situation. 

“The whole thing about having a game called off if you have two players called up to international duty... the international duty only counts if they're playing for Ireland or Northern Ireland so because Sonni and Raivis are both called up it doesn't count apparently because it's not for Ireland or Northern Ireland,” explained Keegan.

Dundalk had been in contact with the FAI to obtain an explanation for the situation and were told “that this is a rule set out in the participation agreement which is something technically agreed by the clubs (at the start of the season),” said Keegan. 

There has been an international revolution at Oriel Park with many incomings from abroad in the off-season. Players have arrived from a number of far-flung places but perhaps this rule could be a deterrent in attracting players from abroad in the future. 

“I suppose it was something that was agreed without much thought because we didn't really have mass volumes of internationals from outside of the Republic. I don't really understand what the thinking was behind it but the FAI's argument is that it's not our rule,” said Keegan.

Albanian shot stopper and President’s Cup final hero could find himself in the Albania squad too. 

“(Abibi) has been in the past and he's going to be in with a chance of being called up, so it seems a strange one and it's going to make life a little bit more difficult on ourselves but look we have good strength in depth too, so we just have to try and cope with it,” added Keegan. 



The Lilywhites could yet be without more players with some of their younger players potentially being called into under-21 or under-19 international squads. 

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