SOCCER:HAVING BEEN omitted from the squad of 22 to face Wales in Dublin next Tuesday, Birmingham City midfielder Keith Fahey has been recalled to replace Keith Treacy after the Preston player dropped out due to a knee injury, writes Mary Hannigan.

Fahey, who has won seven caps to date, was in Giovanni Trapattoni’s provisional 29-man squad for the game, but failed to make the cut when it was trimmed to 22, instead put on standby along with Celtic’s Anthony Stokes.

The 28-year-old has appeared in three of the Republic of Ireland’s four Euro 2012 qualifying games, getting the winner away to Armenia in September. He was one of several players, though, to have an off-night in the 2-1 home defeat to Norway in last November’s friendly in Dublin, when he was switched to a central midfield role, and his exclusion from the 22 was taken as an indication Trapattoni wanted to look at other midfield options, among them Séamus Coleman and James McCarthy.

Fahey has started 19 league and cup games for Birmingham this season but has been left on the bench for two of their last three fixtures, the arrival of David Bentley on loan from Tottenham last month not helping the Dubliner’s hopes of a regular starting place in the Premier League side’s midfield.