Kevin Foley: 'Ireland axe was hard to take'

Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Kevin Foley has admitted that he feels "betrayed" after being dropped from the Republic of Ireland squad by manager Giovanni Trapattoni.

The 27-year-old was replaced by Hull City's Paul McShane in the 23-man squad due to the risk of a hamstring problem.

"It is hard to take, you know," said Foley. "I sort of feel betrayed. I don't want to go into too much detail. I just feel betrayed.

"I wanted to prove a point, that I was fit to play because from what I understood, I could have trained last week, Thursday, Friday and been involved in the game [against Bosnia on Saturday].

"[Trapattoni] said there was no rush and we will wait to train in Italy, so I trained for two days in Italy and felt great. And then all of a sudden, he pulls me [in] just before the end and says, 'You are not in the squad', and that is hard to take. I have done everything I can. That is all I can do. Words can't really describe it. It was tough."

Ireland are also dealing with fitness worries concerning John O'Shea and Darren O'Dea.