Sheffield Wednesday man’s withdrawal from international squad confirmed – Barnsley midfielder promoted

Defender Mark McGuinness, on loan from Championship Cardiff City, has picked up a strain and missed the weekend’s dramatic draw with Ipswich Town. It is likely he’ll miss a number of weeks in recovery.

The 21-year-old was set to add to his caps with Republic of Ireland under-21s as they look to seal qualification for the European Championship in a play-off double-header against Israel.

But his withdrawal from the squad was confirmed by the FAI on Monday afternoon, with Barnsley midfielder Luca Connell called up to the senior squad.

McGuinness’ was the only international call-up in Wednesday’s squad, meaning Darren Moore has a full squad to choose from aside from the club’s injured trio; McGuinness, Akin Famewo and Dennis Adeniran.

“It’s not good news,” Moore said on McGuinness’ injury on Saturday. “He’s picked up an injury that we’ve had a scan on, and it’s an injury that we think is going to keep him out for a few weeks.

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“It’s a strain, so we’re disappointed to lose him for a game like today. It was a big loss, and we had to shuffle the pack.

“Hopefully it’ll be three to four weeks. He’d have started today, but it’s the first time he’s had an injury like this and what he thought was a dead leg was actually a strain.

“We checked him out, sent him for a scan – and I’m glad that we did, because I probably would have sent him back out there and it could have done far more damage.”