McCarthy is still being considered

Manager Martin O’Neill is refusing to rule James McCarthy out of the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Wales at the player’s insistence.

The 26-year-old has not managed a single minute of competitive football for Everton this season as he attempts to shake off a persistent knee injury, and he has been warned by manager Ronald Koeman to put club before country after being called up by Ireland.

Koeman and O’Neill have been engaged in something of a feud since McCarthy aggravated a hamstring injury on international duty in March having earlier arrived with a groin problem.

However, the player trained with the rest of the Republic squad in Dublin yesterday and while O’Neill admits he will be cautious, he has not given up hope of having the midfielder available for Moldova’s visit to the Aviva Stadium on Friday and the trip to Cardiff which follows.

Asked if he was ruling McCarthy out, the manager said: “Well, I don’t think so, no – and he doesn’t want to be ruled out at the moment.

“We’ll have to really look at that very, very carefully and see how he is. He has trained now for quite a number of days and he has joined in with the first team at Everton as well, so we’ll see how he is and take it on a day-to-day basis.”

The Republic have slipped to third place in Group D, a point adrift of second-placed Wales and know there is no margin for error.