Soccer:Damien Duff will be assessed by the Irish medical team when he joins up with the rest of the Republic of Ireland squad tomorrow. The Fulham winger picked up an unspecified injury during the 1-1 draw with West Ham yesterday but has not been ruled out at this stage.
Duff was replaced with 20 minutes remaining at Upton Park and limped from the pitch holding his left leg. As of this morning, however, the FAI had received no communication from Fulham and expect the 31-year-old to report for duty when the squad assemble tomorrow lunchtime.
Giovanni Trapattoni’s side meet Russia in what is likely to be the pivotal Euro 2012 qualifier at the Aviva Stadium on Friday. They then travel to Zilina for a tough assignment against Slovakia the following Tuesday.
Duff missed Ireland’s opening two qualifiers, the wins over Armenia and Andorra, with a calf problem with Aiden McGeady deputising.
The Spartak Moscow winger has been in sparkling form since making the move east and with Liam Lawrence and Keith Treacy also impressing in recent weeks, Trapattoni at least has plenty of cover should Duff be deemed unavailable.
Elsewhere, Richard Dunne, who missed the last two club matches with a knee injury, was restored to the heart of Aston Villa’s defence yesterday but was unable to prevent his side losing 2-1 at White Hart Lane.
Dunne was up against Roman Pavlyuchenko, who he is likely to face in Dublin, and was fortunate not to concede an early penalty when the Russian’s shot hit his hand, the referee deciding it was not intentional.
The Dubliner was beaten in the air by Rafeal van der Vaart for Spur’s first goal but did well to block the midfielder’s shot shortly afterwards. Irish captain Robbie Keane was an unused substitute.
Marco Tardelli’s recce to the Britannia Stadium, where Stoke faced Blackburn, turned out to be a wasted trip.
The Irish midfield partnership of Glenn Whelan and Keith Andrews had been due to go head-to-head but Andrews was an unused substitute while Whelan was only introduced in the 90th minute as Stoke won 1-0.
Keith Fahey made a rare start for Birmingham against an Everton side with Seamus Coleman in their ranks. And it was the defender who will enjoy the bragging rights when the squad assembles as the Toffees recorded their first win of the season, ending Birmingham’s 18-month home unbeaten run.
Kevin Doyle will have to wait for his first league goal of the season after Wolves were beaten 2-0 at Wigan. James McCarthy, overlooked by Trapattoni for the qualifying double-header, started for Wigan.
In the Championship, Treacy opened the scoring for Preston against Reading but the Royals earned a point when Ian Harte's corner was only half cleared and Jem Karacan fired home. Lawrence was also on the scoresheet, his late penalty enough to grab Portsmouth a point against Middlesbrough.
Darren O’Dea, who has already been ruled out of the Ireland squad, was in line to make a surprise appearance for Ipswich but suffered a recurrence of the knee injury he picked up during training with Ireland last month in the warm-up at Portman Road.
“Darren has been struggling with a knee problem since he went away with the last international squad,” explained Ipswich manager Roy Keane after the 2-1 win over Leeds. “We thought we’d take a chance but as soon as he went out for the warm-up he said he was struggling.”
