Richard Dunne says his latest attempt to coax Stephen Ireland back to international football has been unsuccessful.
Dunne says time is running out for team-mate to reclaim his Ireland shirt
Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne has revealed his latest attempt to coax Manchester City team-mate Stephen Ireland back to international football has been unsuccessful.
Dunne has spoken to Ireland several times since he fell out of favour with former manager Steve Staunton, but he believes time is now running out for the midfielder to regain his place in the squad.
The 22-year-old, who has represented his country at both under-15 and under-17 level, has scored four goals for Ireland in six appearances, but he has not played international football since September 2007.
Days before the Republic of Ireland were due to face the Czech Republic, the midfielder requested compassionate leave to attend the funeral of a grandparent.
However this was later discovered to be a lie, and he has not played for his country since the controversy.
Undecided
"I had a chat to him a couple of weeks ago to see what he wanted to do but he seemed like he was still undecided, for whatever reason I don't know," Dunne told the
Irish Independent.
"I think he's enjoying his football at City and doesn't really seem to have any desire to come back and play for Ireland at the moment."
Ireland has been in fine form for Manchester City in the start of the new campaign, including scoring the opening goal in his side's 3-0 away win at Sunderland, but Dunne says the national side may just have to adjust to life without him.
"I think we are just going to have to move on and carry on with what we have at the moment, which is plenty enough.
"I've asked him to come back and told him we've got a really good opportunity to qualify, so hopefully it'll get to a stage where he wants to come back."
Republic of Ireland sit second in World Cup qualifying group eight behind Italy, after picking up four points from their first two matches.
But Dunne thinks that while Ireland continues to give international football a miss, other players are making strong claims to play regular first-team football.
"If it gets so far down the line, where certain players have done things and the team has carried on and gone well without him, then it becomes difficult for him and harder for him to come back," Dunne added.
"So hopefully he'll come back sooner rather than later."
