Ex-Hatter Foley ‘betrayed’ by Ireland boss Trapattoni

The 27-year-old Wolverhampton Wanderers defender was dropped from the 23-man list despite being named in the squad three weeks ago. He said: “It is hard to take. I don’t want to go into too much detail. I just feel betrayed.”

Paul McShane, who had been on standby, has been drafted in in his place. A now fully-fit Foley, who started his career at Kenilworth Road, playing over 150 times for Town, had been battling back from a hamstring problem and featured in a 5-0 friendly win over a Tuscan Select team.

He said: “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).

“He (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.

“Then all of a sudden, he pulls me this morning (Tuesday) 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.

“The lads have been great, but what happened happened, there’s nothing I can do about it now. I hope the lads go on and do as well as they can from the tournament.”

On his decision, an ‘upset’ Trapattoni said: “We thought very hard about what was the best and most appropriate decision.

“We based our decision on the fact the centre-halves – Richard Dunne, John O’Shea and Darren O’Dea – all have problems. We are not sure if they will be 100 per cent.

“McShane did a careful medical check and we decided to include him in the 23.

“The reason behind this is we need one more central defender and we know they are more subject to bookings.

“I spoke to Kevin this morning and with regret, I communicated my decision to him. Obviously, he was clearly upset. Also me.

“But I have a responsibility to our team and the Irish nation. It’s my duty to take this decision disregarding personal feeling.”

Trapattoni had invited Foley to remain with the squad, which heads for Hungary on Sunday and then Poland two days later, but he declined the offer, adding: “I go home tomorrow. I don’t want to talk about that.”

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