Blow for Ireland as Savannah McCarthy suffers ACL injury

Republic of Ireland defender Savannah McCarthy has confirmed she has suffered a cruciate ligament knee injury that will rule her out of the crucial World Cup qualifiers against Sweden and Georgia.

The 24-year-old sustained the injury playing for Galway United in Saturday's 1-1 Women's National League draw with DLR Waves.

On Friday she confirmed the extent of the issue, tweeting: "There's highs and lows in football and this is definitely one of the lows.

"Absolutely devastated to say I did my ACL Saturday night but the road to recovery starts now."

McCarthy has been excellent for Ireland over the last 12 months.

Having forced her way back into Vera Pauw's plans she played in the qualifiers against Sweden, Finland and Slovakia.

Ireland travel to Gothenburg to take on the group leaders Sweden on 12 April and then Georgia on 27 June.

Their campaign concludes with a huge home showdown against Finland on 1 September before a climactic trip to Slovakia five days later.

Ireland are currently second in the table, one point ahead of the Finns.