Republic of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill says Ipswich Town striker David McGoldrick may still be involved in his side’s crunch World Cup play-off matches against Denmark over the coming days.

McGoldrick – who took his Blues goal tally for the season to seven in last Saturday’s 3-0 home win over Preston – was initially named in the provisional Ireland squad, but missed the cut when the reduced 27-man squad was announced yesterday.

“David’s had a niggling groin,” explained O’Neill. “I was speaking to him and we’ll see how he is. There’s still room on the plane.

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“We’ll have a look at it anyway. I think he’s a wee bit disappointed not making the bench the last time but, listen, he’s there, he has a bit of a long-standing groin problem and maybe the extra couple of days for him will help.

“I said I’d give him a shout on Thursday, see how he is.”

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Two injury-ravaged seasons have meant that McGoldrick has only been able to amass six caps since he discovered his Irish roots back in 2014.

He narrowly missed out on a place in the Euro 2016 squad having only just returned to fitness at the end of that campaign, while earlier this season he was unable to join up with the squad after the birth of his fourth child.

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Most recently the 29-year-old was in the squad, but left out of the matchday 18 for the penultimate World Cup group match against Moldova and was subsequently released from the squad ahead of the final qualifier against Wales.

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Denmark’s squad includes Town left-back Jonas Knudsen, the two-cap international having been added due to injuries.

Ireland face the Danes at the Parken Stadium, Copenhagen on Saturday with the second match at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin next Tuesday.

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