Luton defender Mark McGuinness had to withdraw from Republic of Ireland’s squad ahead of their Nations League trip to Greece at the weekend due to injury.
The 23-year-old, who has played for his country at U19 and U21 level, was called up to the senior squad for the first time by new head coach Heimir Hallgrímsson ahead of their matches with Finland and Greece. Having picked up the injury, McGuinness didn’t feature in the 2-1 win at Finland last Thursday, before heading back to Kenilworth Road for treatment, although could now be doubtful for Saturday’s home clash with fierce rivals Watford in the Championship.
A statement on the Football Association of Ireland website regarding the Town defender before the 2-0 loss in Athens said: “Mark McGuinness has returned to his club after sustaining an injury in training earlier in the week and didn’t fly to Athens. No replacement has been called in so Ireland will operate on a 22-man squad tomorrow.”
In McGuinness’s absence, the Irish were well beaten by Greece, Tasos Bakasetas and Petros Mantalos on target, with Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher making a string of five saves. On the defeat and his brief tenure in charge of Ireland so far, Hallgrímsson added: “I thought even though they were better first half, we stayed in the game and didn’t concede a goal. I think the structure helped and we held it with structure, but they were better than us by far in the first half.
“We know we can do better – we saw that in the second half. Both this game and last game, the guys who came in (off the bench) proved a point that they want to play and be in the team. Again, some positives to take away, maybe a lot of positives to take away from this game, but you never want to lose 2-0. It’s a good team, good players with maybe too little belief to go into games like this.
“At this level you need to have your chest forward when you play games. You have to be on the front foot, and it seems we need moments to get that, to concede in the last two games to start playing as we know we can. There is belief in this team for sure, I have belief in these guys, and I hope that people have seen that this team can be really, really good on their day.”
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