Rory Delap picked up an injury during a Southampton reserve game last night and is now in danger of missing the club's FA Cup final clash with Arsenal.
The Republic of Ireland international appeared to twist an ankle after landing awkwardly after 28 minutes. He was taken straight to the treatment room.
Delap was using the game to boost his fitness after just recently recovering from a knee injury.
Irish boss Brian Kerr overlooked Delap for next week's friendly with Norway as the player was lacking match fitness.
Southampton meet Arsenal in the FA Cup final at the Millennium Stadium on May 17th.
Meanwhile, the Republic of Ireland have dropped one place to 15th in the official FIFA rankings released today.
Next week's opponents, Norway, have climbed three places to 23rd.
Ireland's Euro 2004 qualifying opponents Russia and Switzerland have both dropped two spots to 24th and 43rd respectively.
Albania climb a staggering 13 places to 88th following their Group 10 defeat of Russia and the draw at home to Ireland. Georgia are unchanged in 93rd.
Brazil continue to top the poll with Spain and France in second and third.
FIFA World Rankings:
(March's position in brackets)
1. (1) Brazil 849 points
2. (2) Spain 785
3. (3) France 782
4. (5) Germany 755
5. (6) Netherlands 752
6. (4) Argentina 750
7. (9) England 742
8. (7) Turkey 728
9. (8) Mexico 724
10. (10) United States 719
11. (11) Denmark 715
12. (12) Portugal 709
13. (15) Czech Republic 705
14. (13) Italy 702
15. (14) Ireland 698
16. (16) Belgium 682
17. (17) Cameroon 673
18. (21) Costa Rica 672
19. (18) Paraguay 670
20. (23) Sweden 662