WILL SMALLBONE AND Seamus Coleman will miss Ireland’s Nations League double header away to Finland and Greece next week through injury.
Neither have played since the previous international break, with Smallbone playing games against England and Greece but absent since with a hamstring injury. Coleman, meanwhile, limped off with a foot problem against England, and remains sidelined.
Heimir Hallgrimsson will announce the Ireland squad for the upcoming Nations League games on Thursday afternoon, with Ireland facing a key clash in Helsinki before travelling to Athens.
Josh Cullen is likely to return to the squad, having recovered from the injury that kept him out of September’s games, and started Burnley’s last three league games. Coleman is likely to be replaced by Watford’s Festy Ebosele, who was called into the squad last month once Coleman was ruled out.
Otherwise a settled squad selection is anticipated, with Hallgrimsson stressing last month that continuity in selection was vital in improving the squad’s confidence and, in turn, performance levels.
Ireland look to be in a battle with Finland to avoid automatic relegation to League C, the fate which will befall the side that finishes bottom of the group. The third-placed side will need to win a promotion/relegation play-off against a League C side next March to avoid the drop.
Ireland play Finland in Helsinki on Thursday, 10 October, and then travel to Athens to play Greece on Sunday, 13 October.
