Egan Suffers Injury During Sheffield United Defeat

Ireland manager Stephen Kenny will be majorly concerned ahead of the upcoming 2022 World Cup Qualifying campaign with the news that key central defender John Egan was stretchered off at the Olympic Stadium tonight during Sheffield United’s 3-0 defeat to West Ham. His leg was wrapped in a brace by the medical team.

The 28-year old has been a key player for Ireland in the last number of years but has been largely missing during Kenny’s first seven games.

Egan was replaced early during Ireland’s defeat to England in November following a head injury and also missed games as he was deemed a close contact of a positive Covid case. The combative central defender was in considerable pain when blocking a shot in the latter stages of his side’s heavy defeat.

The scale of the injury is not yet known but on first view, it looks certain that Egan will miss next month’s qualifiers against Serbia, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan. The Corkman will be missed due to the lack of options in that position and the lack of form shown by Shane Duffy at Celtic.

However, Ciaran Clark’s return to the starting line-up at Newcastle is a positive while Burnley’s Kevin Long will also be pushing for a start. Egan’s Sheffield United teammate Enda Stevens has recently returned from injury but David McGoldrick has retired from international football.