As if the task of taking on Germany next Friday wasn’t ominous enough, we’ll have to do it without Kevin Doyle while we’re at it.
The Wolves man has had a tough time of it the last couple of seasons, but he proved to be our get out of jail card in Kazakhstan recently and would have stood a good chance of starting alongside Robbie Keane up front.
Instead, he’ll sit out the Germany game next Friday and the game against the Faroe Islands the following Tuesday after aggravating an old thigh injury while training with his club this morning.
Wolves boss Stale Solbakken said that Doyle is “definitely out” of the Ireland games, making an already tough task at the Aviva next Friday even more difficult for the Boys in Green.
Doyle’s absence would appear to pave the way for the in-form Shane Long to take his place in the Irish attack, but anyone familiar with Giovanni Trapattoni’s methods will know that such a prospect is highly unlikely and that one of Simon Cox or Jonathan Walters will start instead.
There’s a small crumb of comfort to be had in the fact that we’re more covered in the attacking department than in other areas of the squad, but ahead of what could be a huge game in determining our qualification for Rio in two years time, it’s still news we certainly could have done without.
