Published Wednesday, 11 November 2009
The Hibernian man underwent a scan on his damaged calf on Tuesday night and was back at his club on Wednesday after the injury ruled him out of the first leg game at Croke Park.
Reading striker Shane Long did not join up with the squad because of a similar problem, but manager Giovanni Trapattoni will not call up any replacements.
The Italian conducted his latest training session at a windy Gannon Park in Malahide on Wednesday morning with the rest of the players fit and well.
Reserve keeper Joe Murphy sat out the last few minutes of the session but assistant manager Marco Tardelli played down the problem.
It comes after Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne launched a blistering attack on France coach Raymond Domenech.
Dunne painted Domenech as a hapless man who is "messing up" the France team, who he suggested should have qualified for the World Cup easily given the talent at their disposal.
"Every time a tournament comes round, they [France] have all these world-class players and then a man who seems intent on messing them up," said Dunne.
'Battle'
"It [Domenech's management] could be a weakness or it could be a big smokescreen; France have played really well in their last few games. But if we can get on top of them and try to turn the game into a battle, we feel we have the stronger personalities."
Domenech's often odd behaviour - not least when he famously proposed to his girlfriend on national television after a France defeat - and his poor record mean he is far from popular at home.
That was borne out this week when he took his players to the Paris Masters tennis tournament, and was booed by the crowd once recognised.
"You can see the reaction of the people at the tennis, when they put his face on the big screen," Dunne added. "The whole place just booed him and his own players laughed at him."
France visit Dublin for the first leg of the qualifier on Saturday before the teams reconvene in Paris on Wednesday.