Stephen Kenny says his primary concern is for the players struck down by Covid-19 - not their club managers.
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho is fuming that Matt Doherty contracted the virus on Ireland duty.
He and James McClean tested positive after the Wales game on Sunday and are out of tomorrow’s Nations League relegation decider with Bulgaria in Dublin.
Doherty will also miss Tottenham’s big Premier League clash with Manchester City on Saturday as he must isolate for 10-days.
Callum Robinson and Alan Browne were the other Irish stars who tested positive for coronavirus during this triple-header that has left club managers in a flap.
“First and foremost, I'm sympathetic towards the players themselves,” said Ireland boss Kenny today.
“It's quite traumatic for a player to get coronavirus in a situation like that and the effect on their families. I think that's lost sometimes.
“So first of all, we must have a degree of sympathy for the players themselves. They put themselves out there, they sacrifice themselves. My sympathy would be to the player.
“Secondly, yes, it isn't ideal for clubs and we must acknowledge that it's not ideal at all, and it's not ideal for international teams either.
“We all have to live with this situation at the moment. That's how I see it.”
Yesterday, goalkeeper coach Alan Kelly made himself unavailable for tomorrow’s game and Dundalk coach Steve Williams has been called up at short notice.
An asthmatic, Kelly has stayed behind in England because of the increasing Covid concerns in the camp.
West Brom's Robinson was the first Ireland player ahead of the England game to test positive, three days after two of his Baggies club-mates contracted the virus.
At the time, the FAI said that Robinson had no close contacts in the Irish camp but Browne was ruled out after the England game, and then Doherty and McClean followed.
Yet Kenny has defended the safety measures and Covid protocols in place during this particular Ireland camp.
“Last month, we weren't hit with a lot of infections, we were hit with close contacts because we adhered to the policies a lot stricter, maybe, than anyone else," he said.
“With this camp, we've had four ruled out with it. It's difficult to manage it.
“A lot of the protocols have been followed to a high standard, but just sometimes the virus doesn't discriminate.
"One of the main reasons we took the England game was for safety reasons, in that we wanted to minimise the risks by meeting in England, travel to Cardiff and Dublin.
“Minimise the travel time, cut out the close contacts on the plane, minimise all of that. The alternative was Bosnia away, so we decided on England away.
“But it’s very difficult to contain it if a player comes in with it and that can happen.”
Already without 13 of the 26 players he named in his initial squad, Callum O’Dowda is now an injury concern for tomorrow's game with a dead leg but has not been ruled out.
And although Troy Parrott has been promoted from the Under-21s, Kenny confirmed he won’t start having played so little after an injury.
“We're missing a high number of players and that's a challenge for us. Nevertheless, it's an important match in Group B and it's an opportunity for some players.
“"We've come in for a bit of criticism and that's fair enough. That's part of the territory when you don't win games, I accept that.
“But the players’ application has been exceptional, and we just have to galvanise ourselves for this one last game and try to get the win we need.”
