Steve Staunton is eagerly awaiting results of a scan on Damien Duff's injury before ruling the Newcastle winger in or out of the Republic of Ireland's upcoming European qualifiers against Cyprus and the Czech Republic.
Duff missed yesterday's Premiership draw at home to Everton with what his club called a "slight thigh problem" and the Dubliner will have a scan later this afternoon.
But Staunton refuses to dwell on the negatives, or indeed speculate, and says it is too early at this stage to discuss the 27-year-old's availability.
"I spoke to Damien yesterday and he had a fitness test that morning," says the manager. "Obviously only doing it on Saturday it cant have been that bad but with muscle injuries you never really know.
"He's having a scan today and until we get confirmation of those results there's nothing really that we can do. It really is too early to know."
Duff actually suffered a similar injury before a qualifying match with Russia four years ago and at that time it took him three weeks to recover.
Staunton was in Dublin to announce his squad for next month's double-header. There are recalls for fit-again Andy Reid of Charlton and Ipswich Town's Alan Lee (scorer of two goals against Sunderland on Saturday) while under-21 international Paul McShane (20) is promoted to the senior set-up.
"I've included Paul on the back of his under-21 performances but also for his work with West Brom," says Staunton of the former Manchester United player.
"He's playing very well and is coping without any problems. I'm looking ahead for the next four years and he's the type of player we need coming through. He's no nonsense and scores from set plays."
With goalkeeper Shay Given sidelined for the foreseeable future, understudy Paddy Kenny is expected to play in both qualifiers. But, of course, the Sheffield United stopper is struggling for fitness himself.
He failed to recover sufficiently from a thigh strain to even make the bench for his club's game against Arsenal on Saturday but Staunton has been assured the player will be fit to play in the Premiership this weekend.
Striker Stephen Elliott is something of a surprise inclusion given that the recent knee injury he sustained was said to sideline him for two months. Staunton concedes his availability is "touch-and-go" but, on the advice of the Sunderland physios, feels he could now be fit for the home game with the Czechs.
The manager welcomes Matt Holland's offer to temporarily end his international retirement and muck-out if, as the player himself put it, there's an "emergency" but still feels he has sufficient strength in depth.
Undeniably an experienced player like Holland could lend stability to an Irish midfield that, on recent evidence, appears unsure of its collective role but at this stage it doesn't appear Staunton will be taking up such offers from either the Charlton player or Everton's Lee Carsley.
In fact Staunton went out of his way to talk up Graham Kavanagh, a player he feels has already reaped the rewards of his transfer deadline-day switch to Roy Keane's Sunderland.
"It tells me that we're doing something right if we have players that want to come out of retirement," says Staunton, who expects a "tight, tense affair," against the Cypriots in Nicosia on Saturday week.
"But Graham has been on every trip since I took over and has done extremely well. Himself and Lee play a similar role and, at the moment, Graham is just ahead of Lee in my thoughts. He is playing great stuff with Sunderland and has improved with age - he's like a fine wine."
There is no room in the squad for Norwich City's Gary Doherty or Paddy McCarthy of Leicester who continues to be overlooked while Birmingham's Stephen Kelly (calf), Levante's Ian Harte (knee) and Joey O'Brien (knee) of Bolton were not considered due to injury.
Republic of Ireland squad to play Cyprus (Oct 7th) and Czech Republic (Oct 11th): Kenny (Sheffield United), Henderson (Brighton), Colgan (Barnsley), Andy O'Brien (Portsmouth), Dunne (Manchester City), O'Shea (Manchester United), Finnan (Liverpool), Carr (Newcastle), St Ledger (Preston), McShane (West Brom), Douglas (Leeds), S Reid (Blackburn), Kilbane (Wigan), McGeady (Celtic), Ireland (Manchester City), Miller (Sunderland), Kavanagh (Sunderland), A Reid (Charlton), Elliott (Sunderland), Duff (Newcastle), Lee (Ipswich), Keane (Tottenham), Doyle (Reading), Morrison (Crystal Palace), Alan O'Brien (Newcastle).
