NIALL QUINN's scheduled return to international football was off again last night after he withdrew from the Irish squad for the World Cup game against Liechtenstein in Dublin tomorrow week.
Just three days after Mick McCarthy described his return to the squad as a significant development, the Sunderland striker informed him that he will not be able to accept the invitation to rejoin the squad for the first time since scoring twice in the 5-0 win in Liechtenstein in August.
Instead, he is to enter hospital this week to have a cartilage scraped, an operation which he had hoped to postpone until the close season. The damage is not related to the damaged cruciate knee ligament which kept him out of football for almost five months.
"I went along to watch Niall play for Sunderland against Wimbledon on Sunday and he just didn't look right," said McCarthy. "I think it proves that my decision to leave him out of the squad for the game against Romania was the correct one.
"It's a setback for Niall for I know how anxious he was to get involved again with the team. But, hopefully, this will be the last of his injury problems for some time and he will come back refreshed and even stronger for the new season.
Quinn, now one of the senior members of the national squad after making his debut against Iceland 11 years ago, was one of five strikers named by McCarthy in the original squad.
It means that the attacking options are now provided by Tony Cascarino, David Connolly, Jon Goodman and David Kelly but with ongoing doubts about Cascarino's fitness, McCarthy will review the situation later in the week.
"I've still got 21 players, including Mark Kennedy whom I can use up front, left in the squad," he said, "but I'll think the situation through over the next day or so before deciding if I need to call up another striker."
Alan Moore, who would have have been in the original squad but for an ankle injury, yesterday conceded that he will not be ready for Middlesbrough's FA Cup final appointment with Chelsea at Wembley next Saturday or the World Cup game which follows.
McCarthy had effectively written him out of his plans after consulting with Middlesbrough manager Bryan Rob son last Friday, but the Dubliner was still clinging to the hope that somehow the problem would clear over the weekend.
That slim chance disappeared when he attempted to train yesterday. "I knew immediately it was pointless and that there was no way I would be ready to challenge for a place in the squad going to Wembley," he said.
"Had I been involved in the FA Cup final, Mick McCarthy may have put me back in his squad but now even that chance has gone. It's a terrible way to end the season, but after being out for the last three weeks there was no way realistically I could hope to get back in without playing a game.
McCarthy is also confident that Roy Keane, the Manchester United midfielder who has an ankle problem, will be available after missing his club's final game in the Premiership against West Ham on Sunday.
Keane is still being treated for the injury in Manchester, but the expectation is that be will travel to Dublin to link up with the remainder of the squad on Friday.
Also expected to report for duty is Ray Houghton, who was substituted in Crystal Palace's win over Wolves in the first leg of their Division One playoff at Selhurst Park. The move was later explained as tactical and Houghton is expected to be in Palace's team for the return game.
