Three members of the Dundalk squad, along with physio Danny Miller, were in international action over the break.
Sam Durrant spent the week with the Sri Lankan national team after travelling to the South East Asian island to apply for dual citizenship.
The 22-year-old, whose mother was born in Sri Lanka, trained with the side, managed by former Manchester City defender Andy Morrison, but was not involved in any of the Golden Army’s friendly games against Papa New Guinea and Bhutan.
“The federation in Sri Lanka found out towards the end of last year that my mum was born there so things got going from that point on,” said Durrant.
“It was a really good experience,” he added. “It was the first time I’ve ever been out there so I enjoyed it. The weather was hot and it was a different style of football.”
Sam Durrant trained with the Sri Lanka national team last week.
Closer to home, Louie Annesley played the full 90 minutes in both of Gibraltar’s UEFA Nations League Playoff games against Lithuania.
Annesley, who captained Dundalk in the 0-0 draw with Waterford FC two weeks ago, was deployed in midfield for the first leg in Faro last Thursday, which Lithuania won 1-0.
The former Blackburn Rovers defender also started the return game in Vilnius, winning his 41st cap, but Lithuania won 1-0 on the night, and 2-0 on aggregate, to retain their League C status.
On-loan Ciaran McGuckin started for Northern Ireland U21s in their 3-0 friendly defeat to Czech in Pardubice and was also in action for Tommy Wright’s side in their UEFA European U21 Championship Group F Qualifier defeat against Serbia in Novi Sad on Tuesday.
Off the pitch, Lilywhites physio Danny Miller was part of John O’Shea’s Republic of Ireland backroom team for their friendly double-header against Belgium and Switzerland at the Aviva Stadium.
