Portsmouth's Ronan Curtis out of Republic of Ireland squad - replaced by Brighton youngster Aaron Connolly after his Spurs heroics

Ronan Curtis’ withdrawal from the latest Republic of Ireland squad has been confirmed.
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Eire boss Mick McCarthy has called up Brighton’s Aaron Connolly as a replacement, after the Pompey winger missed the Blues’ 2-1 victory at Doncaster Rovers because of a hamstring injury.

The former Derry City man had to watch on from the stands as his Fratton Park team-mates recorded their first away win of the season in League One.

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He failed a fitness test this morning after suffering the injury in training on Friday.

Curtis has made 11 appearances for Pompey this season, scoring twice, but has been struggling to repeat the form he displayed in his first season at Fratton Park.

He was substituted during last week’s 1-0 win against Bolton – a decision that was cheered by a section of the home support.

In total, the 23-year-old has three Republic of Ireland caps, with the wide man starting his country’s last fixture – a 3-1 friendly victory over Bulgaria.

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After today’s win at Donny, Blues boss Kenny Jackett told The News: ‘It seems quite a minor one, but when you are feeling your hamstring on the Saturday morning after pulling out of training, it was the right decision to leave him out.

Ronan CurtisRonan Curtis
Ronan Curtis

‘For us, we will assess him, see how it settles down, it’s not anything major, but whether it keeps him out next week or not I don’t know yet.’

Ireland travel to Georgia on Saturday for a 2020 European Championships qualifier, before heading to Switzerland on October 15.

Curtis’ replacement, Connolly, scored twice for Brighton in their 3-0 Premier League win at home to Spurs today.

He is promoted from Stephen Kenny’s under-21 squad.

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