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3rd October 2024
02:37pm BST
Stoke City striker Tom Cannon is one of a few surprising omissions from Heimir Hallgrímsson's second ever Republic of Ireland squad announcement.
Despite bagging four goals for Narcis Pelach's side last night as they trashed Portsmouth 6-1 in the Championship.
The Republic of Ireland striker joined Stoke on a season-long loan from Leicester City on transfer deadline day.
A product of the Everton academy, Cannon received his first call up for the Republic of Ireland Under 19s squad in October 2019.
In May of this year, Cannon received his first official call-up to the Ireland senior national team for two friendly matches against Hungary and Portugal, making his debut appearance as a substitute against Portugal.
Unfortunately, he hasn't done enough to receive another call-up this time around and joins defenders Matt Doherty and Jake O'Brien who will also be disappointed to miss out this time around.
It's a good day for Luton Town centre-half Mark McGuinness who has received his first Republic of Ireland call-up.
With Seamus Coleman and Will Smallbone injured, Hallgrimsson has drafted in the 23-year-old who won 13 caps with the Ireland Under-21s.
Elsewhere, Aberdeen midfielder Jamie McGrath and West Bromwich Albion winger Mikey Johnston both return to the Ireland camp, while Watford right-back Festy Ebosele is also included.
Speaking after Tom Cannon's masterclass at the Bet365 stadium, Pelach heaped praise on the Aintree-born forward.
"He is a talented boy. Hopefully this is the beginning of something nice for him," he said.
"We had a very nice chat this week because I replaced him the other day at half-time. I said ‘I cannot be waiting for performances in the middle of a game. I needed to do what was right for the team. But I want to let you know I am going to back you. Three, four, five bad performances will not change my opinion about you’."
He continued: "I know him, I know he is a good player but he needs game time, he needs to get ready from a physical point of view. Life is about confidence and I have confidence in him. I told him, ‘You need to feel free and you will start again’.
"Even the performance against Middlesbrough I wasn't happy with, but I'm not that kind of coach. I want to do something that is based on trust. We had a good chat together and today I'm very happy with his performance.
"I think he deserves this. On the pitch you do what you can, not what you want. There is an opponent in front of you and he’s a young player so we have to be supportive. On Wednesday he got his reward. I’m very happy."
The Republic of Ireland team will travel without Cannon to the Helsinki Olympic Stadium on Thursday, 10 October, followed by the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium on the 13th.
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