McCarthy, O’Brien & Kearney all out of the 6 Nations

The Irish squad for the  6 Nations has been severely weakened today by the news that Mike McCarthy, Sean O’Brien and Dave Kearney have all been ruled out for the remainder of the tournament.McCarthy’s season is now over following consultation with a specialist over his concussion while O’Brien’s hamstring injury sustained in last weekends loss to France is too serious for him to feature in any of Ireland’s remaining games.

Dave Kearney completes the trio of injuries. The shoulder injury he picked up against France has ended his participation in the tournament. The defeat in Paris has ended Ireland’s hopes of becoming the first nation to win the tournament three years in a row.All three players sustained the injuries in last weekend’s bruising encounter which came just 6 days after Ireland’s physcial draw at home against Wales. A positive coming out of the Ireland camp today is Keith Earls trained with the squad. He missed the French match due to a concussion sustained in Ireland’s opener against Wales. Ireland face England in Twickenham next weekend before their final two home games against Italy and Scotland.