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McCarthy among Ireland's injury absentees

Martin O'Neill has confirmed his Republic of Ireland squad for this weekend's World Cup qualifier in Austria.

James McCarthy is one of four Republic of Ireland players who has been forced to withdraw from the final squad for Saturday's trip to Austria.

The Everton midfielder has a hamstring injury and joins Cyrus Christie, Stephen Ward and Stephen Quinn in missing out owing to fitness issues.

Toffees boss Ronald Koeman last week urged McCarthy to skip international duty.

"The player is not fit and not involved in team sessions," said the Dutchman. "To have a call-up he needs to be close to being fit, but it's a bit of the same story as to what happened last time.