Sunderland face Newcastle United in the Tyne-Wear derby on Sunday

Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill says he is waiting to discover the exact extent of Dan Ballard's injury ahead of their crucial World Cup play-off against Italy later this month.

Ballard was this morning named in O'Neill's latest Northern Ireland squad despite being forced off in the second half of Sunderland's 1-0 defeat to Brighton in the Premier League with a hamstring issue. Régis Le Bris said after the game that he hoped the injury wasn't too serious but the Black Cats face an anxious wait to see what involvement the 26-year-old can have in Sunday's Tyne-Wear derby.

O'Neill said he was confident all of his injury doubts for the play-offs would do everything possible to feature in the Italy game, but Ballard's inclusion does not at this stage necessarily reveal anything regarding Sunday's game.

"There are a few injury problems," O'Neill said.

"There were a few players who didn’t play for their club at the weekend, which is always a concern. Our medical team will liaise with the clubs to get clarity on those situations. We don’t know the exact extend of Daniel’s injury, he came off in the 64th minute - but we’re on top of all that. This is the nature of international football, these things are beyond your control. We’re without Conor Bradley and Jamal Lewis – who has just had ankle surgery – but other than that we are as strong as we possibly could be.

"I know every player will do everything possible to try and be fit and available to play this game. We just have to keep our fingers crossed for the players that didn't play for their clubs at the weekend [that] there is still enough time. There is 10 days until the game now and hopefully that is enough to still be as strong as we want to be."

Northern Ireland face Italy in Bergamo on Thursday, 26 March with the winner then travelling to either Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina in the play-off final on 31 March. The winner of the play-off will be in World Cup Group B with co-hosts Canada, Switzerland and Qatar.

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Régis Le Bris on Sunderland’s other injury issues ahead of Newcastle United game

“Dan had discomfort with his hamstring, so we hope it isn't too serious.” Le Bris said after the Brighton defeat.

“We expect Enzo to be ready for Newcastle, it might be possible. For Nilson, we'll have to wait at least four to six weeks. Reinildo will train with us tomorrow, so that's good news. Nordi is getting better, we'll see for next week. It's always the same: you can take the risk, he might play against Newcastle, but if we lose him for eight weeks after, it doesn't make sense. We are always on the edge so we'll try to manage the situation properly.”

Sunderland will also have a big decision to make as to whether they opt to rush Robin Roefs back from a hamstring injury for this game.

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