Republic of Ireland assistant manager John O’Shea says Blues defender Dara O’Shea’s back injury will be assessed before his side’s UEFA Nations League games.

Ireland, who are currently third in Group B2, host Finland on Thursday and then take on England at Wembley on Sunday.

The Blues centre-half has been playing with an injury for a number of weeks - it forced his substitution in the 2-0 defeat in Greece last month - and O’Shea, assistant to Heimir Hallgrimsson, says the situation will be looked at ahead of Thursday’s game in Dublin.

“Like everyone, we’ll assess that when we get proper eyes on him and we’ll take it from there,” the former Manchester United centre-half said at a press conference alongside Blues forward Sammie Szmodics, who is also in the squad.

“It was great to see him finish the game, get through the game against Tottenham. Like with every player that comes on international duty, we look after them and see what’s best for them.”

Town boss Kieran McKenna outlined O’Shea’s fitness position in greater detail at Friday’s press conference and hinted at some frustration that the summer signing from Burnley had been involved with his national side.

“Battling on through his back issue,” he said. “He’s managed it incredibly well. It was an unfortunate situation for him to get the injury and have to play through internationals with it, but he’s managed it incredibly well through pain and through very limited training. He’s made himself available and will hopefully be available this weekend [at Tottenham].

“He has an issue in his back that I probably won’t go into the medical details of. He has an issue from an impact in his back that he picked up in the West Ham game, so it’s something that’s going to need to be managed for quite a period of time. Hopefully, it will get better as time goes on but he’s managed it terrifically so far.”

Photo: Yannis Halas/Focus Images Ltd/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

ArnieM added 10:20 - Nov 12 I'd rather he didn't play. We need him fit for Town, first and foremost.
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Saxonblue74 added 10:33 - Nov 12 Surely a decision for club and player?
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Radlett_blue added 12:04 - Nov 12 O'Shea fit to play 90 minutes for Town, Burns fit enough to be on the bench but neither fit for international duty. These are glorified friendly games & I'm pleased if we withdraw our players (with their approval) as we pay their wages & many other clubs do this as well.
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Len_Brennan added 12:46 - Nov 12 O'Shea is gettimg better for us, and some of his early errors could be attributed to miscommunication or lack of familiarity with his new teammates. He is an organiser who is constantly talking on the pitch; I think he'll prove to be a very decent signing for us.
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