Sean Maguire, Matt Doherty and Keiren Westwood all ruled out of crunch qualifier against Switzerland

The trio of Sean Maguire, Matt Doherty and Keiren Westwood have all been ruled out of the upcoming qualifier and friendly against Switzerland and Bulgaria respectively.

Mick McCarthy has acted quickly however to plug the hole left by the trio’s unavailability – calling upon the services of James Collins, Cyrus Christie and Keiren O’Hara.

Maguire misses out via a freak eye injury that will see him out of action for the next two weeks, with Wolves full-back Matt Doherty also being ruled out with a knee complaint.

Sheffield Wednesday’s Keiren Westwood also misses out with a knee injury that saw the 34 year old pull out of McCarthy’s squad.  

Crystal Palace midfielder James McCarthy is also ruled following lengthy discussions with the recently installed Republic of Ireland boss.   

“I have spoken at length to James [McCarthy]. He has recently moved to Crystal Palace and is only back playing,” said Ireland manager McCarthy.

“James is completely free of injury, but the intensity of the Switzerland game was always going to be too much for James, and we discussed that.

“Like James, Keiren Westwood will work away now at his club and we will see how they are before we go to Georgia and Switzerland next month.”

The Ipswich Town boss added; “It is hard on the four players to miss out for a game as big as the Switzerland match,” added manager McCarthy.

“We have a 24-strong squad now with James (Collins), Cyrus (Christie) and Kieran (O’Hara) coming in and we will get to work on Monday.”