![\"Brentford's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/5013560_3_articleinline_SOCCER_20Leeds_20_2019475432.jpg\" "\\"Brentford's")
Brentford’s Nathan Collins (left) applauds the fans during the warm-up ahead of the Premier League match at Elland Road. Pic: Richard Sellers\/PA Wire.<\/p>\nIreland\u2019s hitman Troy Parrott will be afforded a deserved rest in Monday\u2019s opening training session ahead of the World Cup playoff in Czechia on Thursday night (7.45pm).<\/p>\n
Parrott\u2019s inactivity at Abbotstown doesn\u2019t stem from a knock, merely a workload protocol on account of him being the only available member for the playoff of the 25-man squad involved in action on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Although he was unable to increase his 31-goal haul for the season in the 3-0 defeat at Groningen, which keeps AZ Alkmaar in sixth place of the Eredivisie table, the good news for the nation was his wellbeing.<\/p>\n
Parrott was lively over his 90 minutes on the pitch, seeing a glanced header saved early in the second half at 1-0, and didn\u2019t sustain any injury to jeopardise his involvement in the crunch semi-final.<\/p>\n
Liam Scales was the other Irish players on club duty on Sunday, part of the Celtic side who suffered a shock loss at Jim Goodwin\u2019s Dundee United, but he\u2019ll only be available for the second leg of the double-header, Ireland will host either Denmark or North Macedonia on March 31 regardless of Thursday\u2019s outcome.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It will either be a showdown for a place at the summer World Cup or a dead rubber necessary to fulfil broadcasting commitments.<\/p>\n
There appears to be no injury concerns over any player named by Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson in Thursday\u2019s panel.<\/p>\n
He has spoken about the preparatory restrictions of just one training session with the full squad. That will take place on Tuesday before they travel to Czechia.<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s session will take place at Fortuna Arena match venue, an environment in which managers are reluctant to reveal their hand.<\/p>\n
What is a concern is the lack of gametime for some of those considered vital to the chances of qualification for a first World Cup since 2002.<\/p>\n
Adam Idah and Bosun Lawal both recovered from hamstring strains to be named as substitutes for Swansea City and Stoke City over the weekend but neither featured.<\/p>\n
Ditto captain S\u00e9amus Coleman (Everton) and Robbie Brady (Preston North End). Meanwhile, Chiedozie Ogbene (Sheffield United) returned to the fray with a 20-minute run-out.<\/p>\n
For Czechia, there was the welcome sight of Pavel Sulc not only returning to the Lyon starting line-up but scoring in the Ligue 1 defeat at home to Monaco.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Striker Patrik Schick also allayed fears after a recent injury scare by bagging a brace for Bayer Leverkusen in Saturday\u2019s 3-3 Bundesliga draw at Heidenheim.<\/p>\n
They are among the foreign based cohort that will join the 13 home-based players who\u2019ve been in the Prague-based camp since Thursday.<\/p>\n
\n Caoimh\u00edn Kelleher (Brentford):\n <\/p>\n
Played the full 90 minutes in the scoreless draw at Leeds United, keeping his eight Premier League clean sheet this term.<\/p>\n
\n Mark Travers (Everton):\n <\/p>\n
Unused substitute in Everton\u2019s win over Chelsea.<\/p>\n
\n Josh Keeley (Luton Town):\n <\/p>\n
Maintained his first-choice status in the 1-1 draw against Stockport County.<\/p>\n
\n S\u00e9amus Coleman (Everton):\n <\/p>\n
Unused sub against Chelsea.<\/p>\n
\n Jimmy Dunne (QPR):\n <\/p>\n
Captained QPR to a 6-1 drubbing of Portsmouth.<\/p>\n
\n Nathan Collins (Brentford):\n <\/p>\n
Skippered Brentford to a stalemate at Leeds.<\/p>\n
Brentford’s Nathan Collins (left) applauds the fans during the warm-up ahead of the Premier League match at Elland Road. Pic: Richard Sellers\/PA Wire.<\/p>\n
\n Dara O’Shea (Ipswich Town):\n <\/p>\n
Part of the Ipswich defence that drew 1-1 against fellow promotion chasers Millwall.<\/p>\n
\n Jake O’Brien (Everton):\n <\/p>\n
Solid 90-minute showing in the win over Chelsea.<\/p>\n
\n John Egan (Hull City):\n <\/p>\n
Full game \u2013 including a booking \u2013 in 3-1 victory over relegated Sheffield Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\n James Abankwah (Watford):\n <\/p>\n
Played full game at right-back in 0-0 draw against Leicester.<\/p>\n
\n Liam Scales (Celtic)*:\n <\/p>\n
Suspended for Prague but maintained fitness with full outing.<\/p>\n
\n Robbie Brady (Preston North End):\n <\/p>\n
Paucity of minutes continued as left on bench against Stoke.<\/p>\n
\n Ryan Manning (Southampton):\n <\/p>\n
Accomplished performance at left-back in 2-0 win over Oxford.<\/p>\n
\n Jayson Molumby (West Bromwich Albion):\n <\/p>\n
Back in the team under caretaker management, his shift helped navigate win at Bristol City.<\/p>\n
\n Bosun Lawal (Stoke City):\n <\/p>\n
Now almost six weeks without football after being unused at Preston.<\/p>\n
\n Jack Taylor (Ipswich Town):\n <\/p>\n
Introduced by Kieran McKenna for the last half an hour against Millwall.<\/p>\n
\n Alan Browne (Middlesbrough):\n <\/p>\n
Another 90 minutes accrued by the Leesider but couldn\u2019t edge them to win at Blackburn.<\/p>\n
\n Jason Knight (Bristol City):\n <\/p>\n
Captain at home to West Brom, he saw out the entire match as a makeshift defender.<\/p>\n
\n Finn Azaz (Southampton):\n <\/p>\n
Withdrawn in the final minute with his contribution cemented in the win over Oxford.<\/p>\n
\n Harvey Vale (QPR):\n <\/p>\n
Newcomer is ablaze with form, adding two assists against Portsmouth to the goal he grabbed last week\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar):\n <\/p>\n
No goals for the marksman but a relief to deliver 90 minutes without sustaining injury.<\/p>\n
\n Adam Idah (Swansea City):\n <\/p>\n
Fully recovered from hamstring trouble, minutes are the elusive commodity for a player without any since December.<\/p>\n
\n Johnny Kenny (Bolton Wanderers, on loan from Celtic):\n <\/p>\n
League One has offered gametime and he amassed another 90 in defeat at Port Vale.<\/p>\n
\n Chiedozie Ogbene (Sheffield United, on loan from Ipswich Town):\n <\/p>\n
A victim of the Blades stretching their quota of loanees, he got his second cameo in 10 days in the loss at home to Wrexham.<\/p>\n
\n Sammie Szmodics (Derby County, on loan from Ipswich Town):\n <\/p>\n
Comeback Kid is a regular for his on-loan club, making way during the win over Birmingham City with a minute remaining.<\/p>\n
\n *Suspended for Czechia game\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s hitman Troy Parrott will be afforded a deserved rest in Monday\u2019s opening training session ahead of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1113,61,60,2539,5782,43,5783],"class_list":["post-359931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-fai","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-league-of-ireland","tag-local-soccer","tag-news","tag-premiership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}