After bagging a brace of goals on his first Premier League start earlier on today, Aaron Connolly has been called up to join the Republic of Ireland senior squad ahead of their crucial Euro 2020 qualifiers.
While there have been numerous calls for the 19-year-old to be included in the senior squad, until now Mick McCarthy has opted to leave the youngster with Stephen Kenny's under-21 side. However, a sensational man-of-the-match performance today for Brighton, along with Portsmouth's Ronan Curtis being ruled out with a hamstring injury, means the forward will now be joining up with the senior squad tomorrow (Sunday).
Blackburn Rovers defender Derrick Williams has also been called up to the senior squad after his club teammates Greg Cunningham and Daragh Lenihan suffered injuries in their defeat at QPR today.
Speaking to the FAI website, McCarthy said:
Aaron and Derrick will join up with the squad on Sunday after injuries to Ronan, Greg and Darragh.
I have spoken to Aaron and Derrick and they are looking forward to meeting up with us. Aaron enjoyed his full debut for Brighton and we have been keeping a close eye on his progress this season.
Derrick was in the extended 41-man squad for these games and playing regularly for Blackburn so this is his chance now.
The Irish squad will depart for Tbilisi on Thursday before playing Georgia on Saturday evening. They will then travel to Geneva where they will play Switzerland the following Tuesday.
McCarthy's side currently sit at the top of Group D on 11 points, with three games of their qualification campaign remaining. The final game of the campaign will take place back in Dublin against Denmark on November 18.
