Republic of Ireland striker Stephen Elliott made a successful return from injury last night when playing 45 minutes for Sunderland’s reserve team.

The 22-year-old Dubliner suffered a stress fracture of the back and had not played since November.

He played the first half of the 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa in Durham and impressed watching manager Mick McCarthy.

Elliott is included in Steve Staunton’s 23-man squad for Wednesday’s international friendly with Sweden at Lansdowne Road and is expected to fly into Dublin this weekend for training.

But McCarthy will not risk Elliott in Saturday’s Premiership game with Birmingham and could ask Staunton to do likewise or at least restrict his playing time.

Rory Delap, capped 11 times for Ireland and just recovered from an Achilles injury, also played the first half last night.

It was his first run out for the club since joining from Southampton last month. He is not, however, in the international squad.