Republic of Ireland boss thought about sending Portsmouth winger Ronan Curtis finger emoji after freak injury

The Pompey winger trapped his finger on his left hand in his front door on Tuesday.

That caused him to miss the Blues’ 3-2 victory at Walsall after undergoing an emergency operation.

Curtis was due to return to see the surgeon today to find out how long he’ll be ruled out of action for. 

Boss Kenny Jackett believes it could be anything between 2-6 weeks, with his chances of featuring at Wembley in the Checkatrade Trophy final against Sunderland in doubt. 

The setback has forced the 22-year-old to pull out of the Republic of Ireland squad for their upcoming European Championship qualifiers against Gibraltar (March 23) and George (March 26).

Curtis was selected in McCarthy’s first set-up since he took over from Martin O’Neill as manager in November.

And after hearing the news, the former Ipswich boss revealed he was tempted to message the south-London born talent with the pointing finger emoji as a joke. 

He told the Irish Sun: ‘He’s amputated 80 per cent of his finger, they said.

‘He lost part of his finger and had it sewn back on.

‘I was pretty stoic in my career but I’ve not played with something like that, with balls banging off you and falling down – not a chance.

‘I was tempted to send him an emoji but I thought I better not because I don’t know him that well.

‘There is a great emoji but I thought I better not. He might have seen the funny side.’

McCarthy has run the rule over Curtis on several occasions since take charge of Eire. 

He was in attendance when the former Derry City man netted in Pompey’s 2-1 defeat at Charlton last week.

And McCarthy has been impressed by Curtis. 

He added: ‘I just felt bad for him because he’s had a great season at Portsmouth.

‘I was looking forward to working him with, I was really impressed by him.’