James McClean Joins Shane Long, Harry Arter and Robbie Brady on Out List

James McClean is out of Ireland’s crunch home European Nations Cup game against Wales later this week.

The Derryman damaged his arm in training today. In typical McClean style, he immediately posted images to Instagram, showing the arm freshly in a cast. “If I had a duck, the fucker would drown,” he said in one of the posts – a reference to the element of bad luck involved. Reports that the injury was a result of punching Roy Keane in the chin have been dismissed (we laughed).

James McClean moved to Stoke City over the summer and has been a fixture in the Championship club's side. He had seemed to be coming into form, working hard and getting at the opposition effectively in recent games. His loss will inevitably be a serious blow to Ireland. The news follows the announcement that striker Shane Long had been ruled out earlier this week with a foot injury. Long has also been in excellent form, following a return to favour under Mark Hughes at Southampton.

The loss of James McClean – added to the long-term absence of Robbie Brady – will almost certainly mean a start for Callum O’Dowda, the young Bristol City left-winger, who is well liked by Martin O’Neill. However, there is much else for the FAI president John Delaney to ponder, following a number of unsatisfactory – and in one case unexplained – losses to the Irish squad.

Certainly, the decision of Harry Arter not to join up with the team, on this occasion at least, has left Ireland struggling to put a decent centre-midfield set-up together for the upcoming joust with Wales. Arter has profited from a move away from Bournemouth, playing very well in all three Premiership games for his new club, Cardiff City. He has looked tough, uncompromising, good on the ball and dangerous going forward – not qualities which we have had in abundance in the Irish midfield in recent games.

While Arter has yet to comment, there have been reports of a bust-up with the Ireland Assistant Manager, Roy Keane, before the summer. Jonathan Walters was also involved, with Roy Keane apparently having been disparaging about the amount of time which both Arter and Walters were spending on the treatment table.

James McClean recently made headlines when he tweeted negatively about Declan Rice's decision to take time to consider his international future. McClean was agreeing with former Ireland international Kevin Kilbane, who essentially implied that – following his decision to opt out of the Wales game – Ireland should not call Declan Rice up again. However, according to reports, McClean has subsequently apologised to Rice, who is precisely the kind of player that Ireland needs desperately to keep involved.

Whatever the cause, the loss of Arter would be a significant blow to Ireland’s ambitions. In the prolonged absence of Everton's James McCarthy, Arter is now the Irish midfielder most likely to get his foot on the ball and take things under control. To have succeeded in alienating him from the international set-up borders on the absurd. Combined with the complications which have arisen in relation to Declan Rice, it casts a long shadow over the man management capabilities of the Irish manager and his team.