Should we be worried that Richard Dunne might not make the Euros?

We don’t mean to cause you any undue alarm, but there is a slight chance that arguably Ireland’s most important player might not make it to the Euros.

Make sure you’re sitting down before you read on, because the news we are about to bring you could cause a considerable amount of distress given how close we are to the Euros at this stage.

We all know that Richard Dunne hasn’t played any football since badly injuring his shoulder playing for Aston Villa against Manchester City on 12 February, but we all naturally assumed that the Honey Monster would be fit in plenty of time for our first major tournament in ten years in June.

Ideally, Dunne would play a couple of games for Villa before the end of season to improve his match fitness, but with just over three weeks until the end of the season, that prospect is becoming increasingly slim by the day.

The big centre half has visited NFL outfit Cleveland Browns in an effort to step up his rehabilitation from the injury in recent weeks, but on a visit to Dublin yesterday, Ireland assistant boss Marco Tardelli admitted that Dunne wouldn’t be going to the Euros unless he was fully fit.

“If Richard is injured, is it possible to stay in the squad? No,” Tardelli is quoted as saying in The Star.

“I think for us, I said it before, that it’s very important. We don’t know at this moment because we have many injured players. I think it’s possible to change some things. It’s possible also to change the date.

“We have a problem with Stephen Hunt, Keith Fahey is out and Stephen Kelly is out. But I think the most important problem at this moment is Richard Dunne because I think it is possible for the other players to recover quickly.”

Dunne and the other members of the squad involved in the Premier League are due to join up with the squad on 20 May, three weeks before the start of the tournament. If Dunne doesn’t recover in time to play for Villa before the season’s out, Tardelli suggested that he may be called into the squad earlier than that in an effort to get him as close to peak condition as possible before the Boys in Green head east.

“Richard wants to play because he needs to play but maybe it’s possible for him to come before May 20 when the Premier League players join the squad,” Tardelli added.

“Maybe on May 17 with the Championship players.

“I think the Aston Villa doctor will decide for him if he can play before the end of the season.”

With 50 days to go until the start of the tournament, there’s plenty of time for Dunne to recover, but the mere prospect of his absence is enough to cause palpitations amongst Irish football followers.

Cross the fingers and toes and get the rosary beads out, folks.