James McClean has withdrawn from the Republic of Ireland squad to face Georgia for this weekend's Euro 2016 qualifier against Georgia.

The Wigan Athletic man did not feature in Wednesday evening's 2-0 friendly win over Oman after failing to regain match fitness following an ankle injury.

"James McClean, unfortunately, has not come through. It's not that he has picked up any fresh injury or anything like that. James is disappointed, in a sense. He thinks he is further on," said Ireland boss Martin O'Neill.

"My concern with James really is while the injury has healed up, he hasn't played that much contact football. We put him in yesterday, he didn't do too badly at all, but I thought everything was just maybe too much for him.

"Wigan weren't really that keen about him playing either, and I understand that from a club viewpoint."

Sunday's meeting with Georgia in Tbilisi marks the start of Ireland's Euro 2016 campaign.

Written by
Mark Langshaw