Doyle injury sours Ireland win

Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has revealed Kevin Doyle may miss the rest of the season after suffering a knee injury on national duty.

Doyle had to be substituted after just 17 minutes of Ireland’s Euro 2012 qualifier with Macedonia, with his injury putting a dampener on the 2-1 win that saw Ireland share top spot in Group B.Trapattoni said after the match that Doyle could miss the rest of the season, in a blow to the striker’s relegation-threatened English Premier League club Wolves.”It’s his medial ligament. I think he may be out for one or two months, so it’s a very serious injury,” Trapattoni said.”But I hope by May or June he can come back and we can have him for the match in Macedonia.”Aiden McGeady opened the scoring for Ireland inside the first two minutes, with Robbie Keane’s strike after 21 minutes doubling Ireland’s advantage in Dublin.Ivan Trichowski’s 45th-minute goal gave Ireland some nervous moments, but they held on to lead the group standings ahead of Russia on goal difference.But with three countries now on 10 points and Armenia two points in arrears, Trapattoni knows how tenuous his side’s hold is on top spot.”At the minute, our group is very, very in the balance. It’s a pity we missed the penalty against Slovakia (in a 1-1 draw in October). We could have been at the top,” he said.”But I have three reasons to be happy. One reason is the three points, the second is the performance and the third, which is equally important, is that players like Darren O’Dea and Darron Gibson and (Kevin) Foley – players I have been questioned for selecting – have played very well.”Macedonia coach Mirsad Jonuz rued his side’s penchant for crucial mistakes, saying: “At very crucial moments in the game, we needed to play well to get a result, but we made mistakes and so we lost the game.””Ireland deserved the victory, but they scored two goals from our mistakes. In the second half, we created enough chances to get something from the game.”