Seamus Coleman is unlikely to start both of next week’s World Cup qualifiers against Portugal and Luxembourg.
The Ireland captain returned to the squad yesterday after missing last month’s games against Azerbaijan and Qatar with another hamstring issue.
Coleman, 33, has returned to the Everton side since then and featured in their last three games against Wolves, Watford and West Ham.
But Stephen Kenny admits that two international games in four days could be asking a lot of his captain.
Kenny said last night: “It's something we have to examine, in relation to a few issues. Seamus is a brilliant captain and an outstanding player.
“The Azerbaijan game (in September) was the second game in a few games when he got that hamstring injury.
“He's had it over the year and there's such pressure on him to play all the time, he just wants to play for Ireland, to play for Everton.
“He never put himself first - always the team. He always wants to play and it has taken its toll with four hamstring injuries in a year.
“You do have to look if he can do two or three (games). He’ll want to play every game and put himself forward.
“Because that’s the thing about the wing backs at the moment, since we’ve gone with three at the back.
“The level of complication with Seamus, Matt Doherty, Enda Stevens and James McClean, who was very good against Azerbaijan, is excellent.
“It gives us real competition, proper dilemmas and we’ve got to consider how we manage that.”
But there is no return from the cold for Newcastle United’s Ciaran Clark despite featuring regularly for his club.
He has fallen down the centre-back pecking order and Kenny added: “Ciaran is there if we need him. He’s been a very good player for Ireland.
“He wasn’t available for one window and it just meant the other players that came in did well.”
Meanwhile, Kenny has hailed Cristiano Ronaldo as a ‘phenomenon’ but claims it’s impossible to say if he’s the greatest of all time.
Ronaldo is heading for Dublin next Thursday in fine form after 14 goals in 14 appearances for club and country this season.
And his dramatic Champions League brace away to Atalanta on Tuesday has kept Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in a job for now.
The global star also floored Ireland in September when scoring twice in the dying stages as Portugal came back from the dead to win 2-1 in Faro.
Kenny said yesterday: “The sheer volume of goals is simply incredible. But even when he’s not playing for Portugal, they win.
“They have players right through the squad who are previous European champions, Nations League winners, Champions League finalists.”
But asked where he rates Ronaldo in the pantheon of great players, Kenny said: “It’s a fair question but such a difficult question.
“It’s different eras and the game evolves all the time. For me in the last three years, football has evolved so tactically.
“Someone like Ronaldo transcends a few decades which is incredible. But you can’t really say one is better than the other because of different times.
“It’s very difficult to say who is better, Maradona, Messi, Ronaldo - they’re all great players.
“Ranking them is a fun game, but very difficult to say one is better than the other based on the game itself.”
Kenny added: “There were great players before Pele and what about the game that Maradona had to endure, before the law changes on yellow cards and red cards?
“What he had to endure, the physical brutality - the changes in laws were based on how he was treated. Messi and Ronaldo have hugely benefited from that.
“They’re protected now in a way that any sort of tackle that’s dangerous is an automatic red card.
“Ronaldo at 36 is different to Ronaldo at 26. It’s a different threat but he still has the capacity to score goals.”
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