John Egan suffered a ‘serious leg injury’ in Sheffield United’s defeat to West Ham tonight.
And the centre-back is now a major concern for next month’s opening World Cup qualifiers.
Egan was carried off on a stretcher in the closing minutes of the 3-0 defeat to the Hammers at London Stadium.
He was hurt in a challenge with on-loan Manchester United man Jesse Lingard and signalled his distress to the bench.
Egan’s leg was immediately put in a brace as he was carried off and Blades boss Chris Wilder fears it could be serious.
"It didn't look too good with the stretcher," said Wilder. “He's on crutches now and that caps a miserable night for us.
"He’s a tough Irish boy so for him to stick his hand up wasn’t a good sign."
And Sheffield United tweeted: "John Egan appears to have sustained a serious foot/leg injury. Get well soon, John." Ireland Stephen Kenny is sweating on news of the full extent of the injury to his key defender.
A huge fan of Egan’s, he wants to build his Ireland team around the 28-year-old Corkman and will hope the injury is not as serious as feared.
Sheffield United’s medical staff will carry out further assessments on the defender tomorrow.
Ireland play Serbia in Belgrade in their opening World Cup qualifier on March 24 and Egan is central to Kenny’s plans for that game.
Not least with Shane Duffy so out of sorts on loan at Celtic.
West Brom’s Dara O’Shea was pushing for inclusion anyway but he, Ciaran Clark of Newcastle and Burnely’s Kevin Long will be vying for a start if Egan is missing.
