Soccer:The prospect of Richard Dunne featuring in next week's Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia next remains a remote one after the Republic of Ireland defender was ruled out of Aston Villa's game with Wolves tomorrow.

Dunne has yet to recover from a shoulder injury sustained a fortnight ago but was included in Giovanni Trapattoni’s 29-man squad named earlier this week, although the Italian did concede he was far from certain to start.

Dunne was only able to take a limited part in training this week and will not be fit for the visit of Villa’s midlands rivals to Villa Park tomorrow afternoon. Gerard Houllier, however, has not closed the door on his central defender travelling to Dublin after suggesting the injury “could be better in a week.”