Middlesbrough have received a boost ahead of the start of pre-season as Paddy McNair shook off an Achilles problem to play the full 90 minutes in Northern Ireland’s defeat to Kazakhstan.
The defender, who played a crucial role under Michael Carrick in the final few months of last season, took a knock in Northern Ireland’s defeat in Denmark. That left national team medical staff closely monitoring McNair, with manager Michael O’Neill admitting he was a doubt for Monday’s clash with Kazakhstan.
Despite the really disappointing result that dampens the Green and White Army’s chances of qualifying for Euro 2024, McNair was said to have given a really positive display on the right side of a back three, getting forward whenever possible and showing no signs of any issues as far as an injury is concerned.
And that will be welcome news for Carrick and co back on Teesside as they prepare to welcome back Boro players in the next week or so for the start of pre-season. While Boro’s international players are likely to get a little extra time off, the Boro head coach will hope pre-season is disrupted by injuries as little as possible as he aims to fully prepare his squad for another promotion push in the upcoming campaign.
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Speaking of his side’s costly defeat to Kazakhstan which left them second bottom of their qualifying group, O’Neill said: “It was a very tough goal for us to lose. To concede the way we do at that stage of the game, it’s heartbreaking really.”
Elsewhere, Darragh Lenihan was an unused substitute as Ireland got back to winning ways against Gibraltar, recording a 3-0 victory in Dublin. Lenihan was replaced in the side by West Brom’s Dara O’Shea, despite Stephen Kenny’s pre-match defence of the Boro man.
Lenihan came in for criticism after Ireland’s defeat in Greece, of which the Boro vice-skipper earned just his fifth cap in four years. Kenny had defended the decision to play Lenihan over O’Shea after the game, stating Lenihan was more match-sharp, while pointing out the influential role he played in Boro’s charge to the play-offs last term.
Despite that, O’Shea was restored to the starting line-up on Monday evening as the Ireland back three took up a more familiar look for the win and clean sheet in Euro qualifying that leaves them third in Group B.
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