Aston Villa striker Scott Hogan gets Republic of Ireland call

Aston Villa striker Scott Hogan has been handed a first call-up by the Republic of Ireland for their final World Cup qualifiers.

Martin O’Neill’s men face Moldova and Wales in their last two Group D games next month as they look to keep their hopes of reaching Russia next year alive.

The Republic are third in the table, a point behind Wales and five behind leaders Serbia, after picking up just three points from their last four games.

Hogan, who was born in Salford, qualifies for the country through his grandparents and missed out on the last squad as he was waiting for his documentation to come through.

The 25-year-old, who has three goals in 11 games for Villa this season, is joined by fellow newcomer, Millwall’s Aiden O’Brien.

Midfielder Jeff Hendrick and forward David McGoldrick return after injury but Greg Cunningham (knee) and Jonathan Walters (knee) miss out.

Moldova come to the Aviva Stadium on September 6 before the clash with Wales in Cardiff three days later as Ireland look to at least make the play-offs.

Boss O’Neill told the Ireland FA: “The Moldova game is everything to us, we have to win this game. It’ll be a nervy 90 minutes, we’ve seen this before in a game we’re hoping to win. We’re going to try to go to Wales with everything to play for so the game has become ultra important.

“We’ve found the odd hiccup in the last couple of weeks, we can rectify that. You want to qualify for competitions, that’s my job. We have two games and we know if you win them you would be desperately unlucky not to be in the play-offs.”

James McClean, who scored twice in the 3-1 win in Moldova a year ago, and Robbie Brady are suspended for the return fixture but will be available to face Wales.

Captain Seamus Coleman continues to recover from a broken leg he suffered on international duty last season.