The Republic of Ireland will maintain a watching brief over Evan Ferguson's fitness for Sunday's World Cup qualifier against Hungary after the striker was ruled out of Thursday's meeting with Portugal.

Hoping to reach the playoffs for the 2026 World Cup, the Republic of Ireland will welcome Portugal to the Aviva Stadium on Thursday for their penultimate UEFA Group F qualifier.

WHEN he accepted Charlton’s call-up all those years ago, Ireland had never been to a major international finals tournament. The following year, Charlton took them to Euro ’88 and fun started with the famous win over England and Ronnie Whelan’s scissor-kick goal against Russia.

Johnny Kenny and Jamie McGrath are late call-ups into the Republic of Ireland squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Portugal and Hungary.

Despite conceding at the death in their last meeting with Portugal, Ireland will back themselves to frustrate Martinez’s men once again and will hope to have the luck of the Irish on their side on home soil, where they are without a defeat in their last five games.

JOSH CULLEN knows now would be a good time to score his first goal for Ireland. Last month, Cullen was part of a strong defensive showing against Portugal which came close to being rewarded with a

Abbie Larkin scored a decisive 90th-minute goal as the Republic of Ireland stunned Belgium to earn promotion to League A with a 5-4 aggregate win in the Nations League play-off. The Republic held a 4-2 lead from the first leg in Dublin thanks to an inspired performance from captain Katie McCabe.