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O'Brien missed Newcastle United's 2-2 with Middlesbrough on Saturday because of conjunctivitis. The contagious eye infection has forced O'Brien to miss two weeks training and, following medical advice, Newcastle have withdrawn him from the squad fearing that the infection could spread to other players.
17 players did report for duty on Sunday, including latest Irish call-up Jonathan Macken of Manchester City, and took part in a full training session with only David Connolly, Stephen Carr and Stephen Finnan sitting it out after picking up knocks playing for their clubs on Saturday.
Kevin Kilbane, Roy Keane, John O'Shea, Liam Miller and Damien Duff's clubs were all in action on Sunday and the quintet will arrive in on Sunday evening.
Kilbane suffered an ankle injury that needed two stitches during Everton's defeat by Arsenal but was still deemed fit enough to travel.
At this stage, manager Brian Kerr has no plans to call in any replacements.
Squad: Given (Newcastle United), Colgan (Barnsley), Kenny (Sheffield United), Finnan (Liverpool), Cunningham (Birmingham City), Maybury (Hearts), O'Shea (Manchester United), Carr (Tottenham Hotspur), Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur), Breen (Sunderland), Miller (Manchester United), Quinn (Sheffield United), Keane (Manchester United), Kavanagh (Cardiff City), Reid (Nottingham Forest), Barrett (Coventry City), Kilbane (Everton), Duff (Chelsea), Lee (Cardiff City), Morrison (Birmingham City), Connolly (Leicester City), Macken (Manchester City).