Huge concern for Ireland as injury plagues key player ahead of Wales tie

Not the news we needed as preparations ramp up for Wales.

Martin O'Neill will name his squad on Monday ahead of Ireland's crucial World Cup qualifier against Wales at the Aviva Stadium on March 24. Ireland are currently unbeaten in the qualifying campaign so far and have secured some excellent results, including a 1-0 victory against Austria in Vienna. One man who didn't feature that day was Everton's, James McCarthy. The Glasgow-born 26-year-old was ruled out of that game with a hamstring injury and now that same injury could see him ruled out of Ireland's upcoming match. McCarthy missed Everton's 3-0 victory over West Brom at the weekend and The Toffee's manager, Ronald Koeman, said that McCarthy is one or two weeks away from being deemed fit. As reported by RTÉ, Koeman revealed that McCarthy suffered the injury at the beginning of last week.

"James again has some problems with his hamstring - it happened at the beginning of last week, “Koeman said. “It’s painful for him and also for me because I like him and we want to progress with him. “But every time we do that he has to take a step back. It’s not a big hamstring injury - he will be out for one or two weeks - but I’m really disappointed about it."

Koeman couldn't hide his frustration at the latest setback but is determined to find a solution to the problem.

“It’s another step back for the boy and that’s really disappointing. We need to find a solution and we haven’t found it yet.”

The Wales match is just under two weeks away so McCarthy's potential inclusion will likely be decided at the last moment.