Preston North End midfielder Alan Browne ruled out of Republic of Ireland squad due to injury

Browne, 24, strained a calf muscle training with the Irish squad in Portugal over the weekend.

He will remain in the Algarve to do rehab work before travelling back with the squad on Tuesday.

They play Denmark in Copenhagen on Friday and then Gibraltar at Dublin's Aviva Stadium three days later.

Only last week, Browne had spoken about his desire to kick-start his international career after winning three caps in the last two years.

Injury forced him to pull out of the Irish squad twice last season, including the March internationals when Mick McCarthy took charge.

Republic of Ireland boss McCarthy said: "Alan has been very unlucky with injuries this season.

"An ankle injury kept him out of the two games in March and now this calf problem has ruled him out of the matches against Gibraltar and Denmark."

His injury hopefully won't impinge on Preston, with the squad not due to report back for pre-season training until the end of June - he's got plenty of time for a rest and a holiday.

Browne's North End team-mates Sean Maguire and Callum Robinson are with the ROI squad.