S\u00e9amus Coleman and injury doubt Nathan Collins have not been included in the squad for the Republic of Ireland’s opening UEFA Nations League fixtures.<\/p>\n
But Sheffield United loanee Liam Kitching has earned his maiden call-up, while fellow uncapped left-sided defender Joel Bagan of Cardiff City and Hibernian\u2019s former Sligo Rovers striker Owen Elding are all in contention for debut caps during the four-game window.<\/p>\n
Irish captain Collins had emerged as a doubt for this window after limping off in the first half of Brentford’s 1-1 draw at Sunderland on 5 September.<\/p>\n
Bees boss Keith Andrews subsequently confirmed that the centre-back had suffered a calf injury and was expected to return to club action after the international break.<\/p>\n
Evan Ferguson (ankle) and Josh Cullen (knee) are longer-term absentees while Mikey Johnston and Jack Taylor are unavailable due to ankle and knee issues respectively.<\/p>\n
QPR defender Jimmy Dunne also sustained a muscular injury earlier this month but has made the cut for the September\/October games.<\/p>\n
Veteran right back Coleman and long-time team-mate Robbie Brady are currently without clubs.<\/p>\n
In their absence, newcomer Kitching adds to the defensive depth. The left-sided centre-back helped Coventry City to Premier League promotion last season. But since 1 September, the Harrogate-born player has returned to the Championship, on a season-long loan at Sheffield United.<\/p>\n
Bagan provides cover at left back. The former Ireland under-21 defender had initially been included in the May squad for the friendly against Grenada but had to withdraw through injury.<\/p>\n
The Boys in Green face Kosovo at the Fadil Vokrri Stadium in Pristina next Thursday, and then face Israel the following Sunday in Debrecen, Hungary.<\/p>\n
Austria come to Aviva Stadium on Thursday, 1 October, before Ireland’s ‘home’ clash against the Israelis is played behind closed doors at Backa Topola in Serbia on Sunday 4 October.<\/p>\n
\n
Goalkeepers: Caoimhin Kelleher (Brentford), Max O’Leary (West Bromwich Albion), Gavin Bazunu (Bolton Wanderers)<\/p>\n
Defenders: James Abankwah (Udinese), Joel Bagan (Cardiff City), Jimmy Dunne (Queens Park Rangers), John Egan (Hull City), Liam Kitching (Sheffield United), Ryan Manning (Southampton), Jake O’Brien (Everton), Dara O’Shea (Ipswich Town), Liam Scales (Celtic)<\/p>\n
Midfielders: Finn Azaz (Southampton), Conor Coventry (Charlton Athletic), Jason Knight (Bristol City), Jamie McGrath (Hibernian), Jayson Molumby (West Bromwich Albion), Harvey Vale (Queens Park Rangers), Bosun Lawal (Stoke City)<\/p>\n
Forwards: Owen Elding (Hibernian), Adam Idah (Swansea City), Jack Moylan (Cardiff City), Chiedozie Ogbene (Lincoln City), Troy Parrott (Real Betis), Rocco Vata (Watford), Tom Cannon (Sheffield United)<\/p>\n
Fixtures<\/p>\n
Thursday 24 September: Kosovo v Republic of Ireland, Fadil Vokrri Stadium, 7.45pm
Sunday 27 September: Israel v Republic of Ireland, Nagyerdei Stadium, 7.45pm
Thursday 1 October: Republic of Ireland v Austria, Aviva Stadium, 7.45pm
Sunday 4 October: Republic of Ireland v Israel, TSC Arena, 7.45pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"S\u00e9amus Coleman and injury doubt Nathan Collins have not been included in the squad for the Republic of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-627514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627514","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=627514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}