NATHAN Collins and Chiedozie Ogbene will not feature in John O’Shea’s Republic of Ireland squad for the upcoming friendlies with Hungary (h) and Portugal (a), to be announced in Dublin this afternoon.
Collins missed Brentford’s last game of the Premier League season – a 4-2 home defeat to Newcastle – with a knee injury and still hasn’t fully recovered for the end of season international window.
Ogbene, who has starred for Luton Town this season, has withdrawn from the Irish squad due to family reasons and also misses out on adding to his international caps tally.
O’Shea assumed the managerial reins on a temporary basis for the March friendlies with Belgium and Switzerland, and it was expected a permanent manager would be in place by “early April”, according to FAI football director Marc Canham.
The FAI has still not landed a new manager and O’Shea has been asked to step in for the Hungary and Portugal games on June 4 and June 11, respectively.