Dara O'Shea played through the pain barrier for Ireland in last month's Nations League games against Finland and Greece - and is still managing an injury issue ahead of the final two fixtures of the campaign as Heimir Hallgrimsson's side seek to avoid relegation.

O'Shea, 25, suffered a back injury against West Ham in the last Premier League fixture before the international window.

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna believed that the best course of action was for the centre-back to withdraw from Ireland duty, but O'Shea started in both games Ireland beat Finland and lost to Greece in the away assignments.

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O'Shea is still suffering from the issue but is expected to play for the Tractor Boys against Tottenham Hotspur today before joining up for the Ireland squad for their final two games of this Nations League campaign, at home to Finland on Thursday and against England at Wembley next Sunday.

"It was an unfortunate situation for him to get the injury and have to play through internationals with it, but he's managed it incredibly well through pain and through very limited training," McKenna commented.

"He has an issue in his back that I probably won't go into the medical details of. He has an issue from an impact in his back that he picked up in the West Ham game.

"So it's something that's going to need to be managed for quite a period of time. Hopefully, it will get better as time goes on, but he's managed it terrifically so far."

Speaking after the 2-0 loss to Greece, O'Shea said: “Of course we want to be competitive in the group and we’ve lost some games. We’ve only won one but the aim is to stay in this group and win our remaining games. It’s as simple as that, it’s not just to avoid relegation.”

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