The Republic of Ireland injury list continues to mount as three more players were ruled out of the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Germany on Friday.

Defender Sean St Ledger, midfielder Glen Whelan and winger James McClean are all out of the game against the Germans. Hamstring victims St Ledger and Whelan will also miss the trip to the Faroe Islands but McClean could make it his hip flexor injury responds to treatment at his club this week.

They join Richard Dunne and Kevin Doyle, who were ruled out last week, on the absentee list and

Aston Villa's Ciaran Clarke has been called into the squad to replace St Ledger.

Manager Giovanni Trapattoni has drafted Aston Villa defender Ciaran Clark into the squad and he joins Sunderland's David Meyler and Manchester United's Robbie Brady who were called up earlier.

Los Angeles Galaxy striker Robbie Keane and Spartak Moscow winger Aiden McGeady are due to link up with the squad on Tuesday.

Trapattoni said he was not prepared to take risks with players carrying muscle injuries.

"I can't speak as doctor - I am manager. But muscle injuries need time, time, time. You don't want a player to play 10, 15, 20, 70 minutes and then have hamstring injury again. I don't want to take risks.

It's very important, this game. We also need to make our three substitutions to change the game, not because of injuries from before."

Trapattoni, who managed German clubs Bayern Munich and Stuttgart, knows the task facing Ireland on Friday against the European Championship semi-finalists is a formidable one.

"Germany is strong team. We know their quality, their offensive potential. They are first in the table and one of the strongest teams in Europe, the world maybe."

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