Lee Carsley's unhappy start to the season held another disappointment yesterday when he was excluded from the Republic of Ireland's revised World Cup squad of 22.

The Blackburn midfielder is one of eight players dropped from the preliminary selection ahead of next Saturday's opening qualifier against The Netherlands in Amsterdam.

Also omitted are Terry Phelan (Chelsea), Paul Butler (Sunderland), Graham Kavanagh (Stoke), Gareth Farrelly (Bolton), Rory Delap (Derby) and the Middlesbrough pair Curtis Fleming and Keith O'Neill.

Carsley will be disappointed if not greatly surprised that his hopes of ending a long absence from the team - he last played in the opening leg of the Euro 2000 play-off against Turkey - have been shelved for at least another six weeks.

A three-match ban carried over from last season kept him out of the start of Blackburn's programme in the first division, and it was this lack of competitive football which eventually persuaded Mick McCarthy to reject the gamble of including him.

Ironically, Carsley returned to Blackburn's reserve team against Leeds United yesterday and is expected to be on the bench today, his 26th birthday, for the meeting with Norwich.

Jeff Kenna, out of action since being injured in an FA Cup tie against Liverpool at Anfield last January, also took part in the game which Leeds won 4-0, but on his own admission he is still some way short of full fitness.

Carsley's disappointment will be shared by Phelan, who ended a long absence from international football with a series of good performances during the three-match tour of the US in June.

Butler's inclusion in the original squad, after an unhappy debut against the Czech Republic in February, was something of a surprise, and his claims to a place in the travel party were always tenuous.

Of the eight players omitted, only Delap was ruled out by injury. He damaged ribs in the game against Southampton last Saturday and is not expected to return to Derby's team until mid September.

His absence deprives McCarthy of a valuable utility player, a role now taken over by Steve Finnan of Fulham. Like Dominic Foley and Matt Holland, two other promoted players, Finnan took part in the game against Scotland in May but was prevented by injury from joining the American tour.

Doubts about the availability of Gary Breen and Holland remain, but the manager expects both to travel.