MATT Doherty has expressed sympathy with the plight of his Irish team-mate Richard Keogh but admitted his surprise that the Derby County captain got caught up in a 'completely avoidable situation.'

Keogh is out of Euro 2020 and is facing up to 15 months out after sustaining a serious knee injury in a car crash after a club sanctioned night out spiralled out of control.

His team-mates Mason Bennett and Tom Lawrence have been charged for drink driving, while Keogh has been criticised for being part of a group that stayed on instead of accepting a lift home from cars that the club had laid on.

Doherty's Ireland team-mate addressed Keogh's issue in a wide-ranging interview with ex-footballer Richard Sadlier on the Second Captains Podcast. He found the details of the incident shocking when compared with the culture that exists at Wolves, where he has starred at Premier League level.

"I was surprised, and concerned to find out if he (Keogh) was alright," said Doherty, "I have concern but then you're looking at it and thinking it was completely avoidable for one. There was no need.

"Obviously you're sympathetic but it was a really avoidable situation and it's got very messy now.

"From a Wolves point of view, the only night out that we have as a team is the Christmas party, which is just known at every club.

"We have a lot of foreign players and a lot of foreign players don't actually drink. In our squad, I would say the vast majority don't drink.

"I don't drink hardly ever now when I used to go out almost every weekend and drink almost every weekend."

Doherty also touched on his fractious relationship with Martin O'Neill, detailing the call he received from the manager on the day after he left the Ireland job. Doherty went on 2FM and spoke in unflattering terms about Ireland's tactical preparation for games; opinions that he stands over although he regrets the timing.

"The call was not a good call," said the 27-year-old. "I don't know if I should say too much with the risk of getting another call. I don't want to go through that again. If you were to listen to that, you would be shocked. It wasn't a pleasant call between two human beings at all.

"He called me a tosser a few times and we were kinda going back and forth...and he ended up just hanging up the phone on me.

"I could go into more detail but I don't want to bring it all back up again when it's totally gone now. It wasn't a nice phone call at all."

Doherty is a strong contender to start at left back in Saturday week's Euro 2020 qualifier with Tbilisi, but he doesn't believe that it's clearcut that he will be selected to replace Enda Stevens with James McClean also in the mix.

Online Editors