Sammy Clingan sat out Northern Ireland's training on Monday

Three key Northern Ireland players are expected to recover from minor problems after sitting out the first training session in Riccione on Monday.

Midfielder Sammy Clingan had a dead leg, defender George McCartney was suffering from blisters and forward Warren Feeney reported a slight virus.

Boss Nigel Worthington said he was confident all three would be available.

The NI party flew to Rimini earlier than planned to take advantage of the better training weather in Italy.

Among those training was defender Craig Cathcart who had been called into the Northern Ireland squad at the weekend.

The 20-year-old Manchester United player, currently on loan at Plymouth Argyle, came in following the withdrawal of injured pair Jonny Evans and Chris Baird.

Steve Beaglehole, who has managed Cathcart at U-21 level, said the player deserved his call-up to the senior panel.

"I am pleased for Craig as he played well against Scotland in our last game.

"I have also seen him in action a couple of times for Plymouth and he has made big strides. He deserves to show what he can do at senior level."

Striker David Healy made it two goals in two games by scoring for Sunderland on Saturday while in-form Burnley striker Martin Paterson was again on target for the Clarets.

Celtic winger Pat McCourt came on as a substitute after 61 minutes of his side's 2-1 Scottish Cup win over Queen's Park.

Winger Keith Gillespie was left out of the original squad for the game after being released by Championship side Sheffield United.

Burnley defender Michael Duff was a surprising omission from the panel.

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