Josh Cullen has been cleared to face Armenia tomorrow after a ‘suspension’ was chalked off on the eleventh hour.
Stephen Kenny thought he could be with out his first-choice midfielder after he acquired two yellow playing cards in separate World Cup qualifiers final yr.
The second of these got here within the ultimate recreation of the marketing campaign, a 3-0 win away to Luxembourg in November.
The FAI requested FIFA on the time if two bookings would end in a suspension and had been instructed it might.
But Cullen’s title was not on UEFA’s record of suspensions issued to nationwide associations this week and the FAI sought pressing readability.
Yesterday, a FIFA supply confirmed there was an administrative misunderstanding and Cullen is free to play.
In Yerevan final night time, Kenny stated: “We have Josh Cullen accessible since (Wednesday) which stunned us actually. He’s not suspended.
“When we obtained notification a very long time in the past from FIFA that he was suspended within the subsequent competitors, I requested them to problem that as a result of I assumed it was extraordinarily harsh.
“But beneath FIFA guidelines that was it. But within the notification from UEFA the opposite day, he wasn’t on it as being suspended so we (queried) that.
(Image: Herman Dingler/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
“Whoever was working behind the scenes here did their job. We had the notification. It is what it is. It wasn’t something I was planning for so you have to adjust.”
Cullen and Matt Doherty had been Ireland’s over ever-present gamers all through that World Cup marketing campaign and he is a key man in Kenny’s crew.
He educated with the Ireland squad in Dublin over the weekend and once more at FAI headquarters on Monday and Tuesday.
But the Anderlecht star had permission to skip the trek to Armenia and was due to spend a number of days with household in England earlier than returning for the Ukraine recreation.
Those plans modified on the final minute as soon as the FAI obtained affirmation that he didn’t have to serve a suspension within the Nations League.
And Cullen flew to Yerevan on Wednesday with the remainder of the squad and Kenny has no harm considerations going into tomorrow’s match.
“I was as surprised as Josh,” added Kenny. “It is what it is and it’s good news. He’s delighted.”
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