Soccer: Republic of Ireland defender Greg Cunningham is likely to be out for up to four months after he suffered a broken leg in Leicester City's 1-0 win over Hull on Saturday afternoon.

The Manchester City full-back, on loan to Sven Goran-Erikkson’s side, sustained the injury in a tackle from Hull’s Liam Rosenior and was immediately rushed to hospital.

“It’s a broken tibia, which could mean he is probably away for four months,” said Eriksson yesterday. “He is in hospital right now and I guess he will undergo an operation today or tomorrow (Sunday).

Rosenior was red-carded for the challenge but Erikkson was quick to excuse the former Fulham defender.

“It is important to say that as far as Rosenior was concerned, it was not stupid. It was bad luck and he didn’t mean to do it, so there should be no shadow over him.”

Nevertheless, the news will come as a blow to Giovanni Trapattoni ahead of the resumption of the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Macedonia in March.

The manager was expected to give the Galway man, who turns 20 at the end of this month, a chance to add to his three caps in the opening fixture of the inaugural Carling Four Nations Cup against Wales on February 8th.

He is certain now to miss both those games, but the return fixture against Macedonia is not until June, while the Four Nations will continue with games against Northern Ireland (May 23rd) and Scotland (May 27th).

Presuming all goes to plan in his recovery, he will target those games as an opportunity to return to international action.