James McCarthy Withdraws From Republic of Ireland Squad to Focus on Fitness With Crystal Palace

​Crystal Palace midfielder James McCarthy has withdrawn from international duty with the Republic of Ireland as he continues to work on his match fitness.

The 28-year-old missed over a year of action after suffering a nasty leg break in January 2018, and moved to Palace this summer to try and get his career back on track.

He has seen just 41 minutes of ​Premier League action since the injury, so Republic boss Mick McCarthy told the media (via ​BBC Sport) that everyone involved had decided that it was best for the midfielder to return to his club over the international break.

He said: "I have spoken at length to James. He has recently moved to ​Crystal Palace and is only back playing. James is completely free of injury but the intensity of the Switzerland game was always going to be too much for James and we discussed that."

Alongside McCarthy, Keiren Westwood, Sean Maguire and Matt Doherty will all miss Thursday's Euro 2020 qualifier with Switzerland, with ​Luton Town's James Collins, ​Fulham's Cyrus Christie and Burton Albion's Kieran O'Hara coming into the squad to make up the numbers.

"Like James, Keiren Westwood will work away now at his club and we will see how they are before we go to Georgia and Switzerland next month," the manager added.

The Republic of Ireland currently sit top of Group D after four games, and they have opened up a five-point lead over second-placed Denmark, although that gap can shrink to just two points if Denmark win their game in hand.

As for McCarthy, he will now get plenty of time to work on his fitness back at Selhurst Park. Palace's next game will be against ​Tottenham Hotspur on 14th September, and the 28-year-old will certainly be eager to be back to full fitness by then.

Source: 90min

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