Northern Ireland have confirmed an injury exit by key defender Dan Ballard just days before facing Italy in this week’s World Cup play-off semi-final.

In what marks the second loss of a Premier League-based player for Michael O’Neill following the absence of Liverpool’s Conor Bradley through injury, the Ballard news arrives as many expected following his unavailability on Sunday for Sunderland’s derby win over Newcastle United following hamstring problems sustained in the Brighton and Hove Albion fixture on March 14.

O’Neill has called up Blackburn Rovers’ Tom Atcheson as a Ballard replacement for his first senior squad selection ahead of Northern Ireland’s crunch clash in Bergamo on Thursday.

Atcheson’s selection arrives after O’Neill, in his role as Blackburn Rovers manager at club level, offered the 19-year-old a start in the Championship during Saturday’s scoreless draw with Middlesbrough.

placeholder image — Sunderland defender Dan Ballard has been ruled out of Northern Ireland's World Cup play-off semi-final against Italy. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Wire).

The Irish Football Association announced on Monday the other 27 members of O’Neill’s squad selected last week have successfully reported to the training camp in Liverpool before flying to Italy on Wednesday.

Atcheson joined Rovers’ youth set-up at the under 12s and O’Neill was full of praise for his potential following the weekend league game.

"He’s very composed and he’s blessed with the natural attributes you want in a centre-back,” O’Neill said on the official RoversTV club social media platforms. “He has size, but also speed and he’s a good user of the ball as well.

"I thought he played with great composure and handled the threat of the opposition extremely well.

"Early on in the game, I think they thought with a young centre-back they’d try and exploit that area, but he handled that well, grew into the game and he’s a big player with a huge future.”

With O’Neill accepting the dual role in a bid to steer Rovers away from relegation issues, the Northern Ireland manager views the experience as key to Atcheson’s development.

"It’s massive, this is as big as it gets,” said O’Neill. “If you can handle these situations, you’ll handle a lot going forward in your career.

"As a centre-back coming in to play against a team sitting inside the top-two positions in the league (Middlesbrough), knowing your team is at the wrong end of the table, there would be a lot of things going through a young player’s mind leading into the game, but I thought he handled it terrifically.”

Victory on Thursday would set up a game next Tuesday against either Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina for a place at the summer World Cup finals hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Atcheson will be replaced in Northern Ireland under 21s’ squad for away European Championship qualifiers later this month against Germany and Latvia by two Irish League players – Larne’s Logan Wallace and Bangor’s Harry Lynch - with Waterford’s Sam Glenfield dropping out due to injury.

NORTHERN IRELAND: Bailey Peacock-Farrell (Blackpool, on loan from Birmingham), Conor Hazard (Plymouth), Pierce Charles (Sheff Wed), Josh Clarke (Partick Thistle, on loan from Celtic); Trai Hume (Sunderland), Tom Atcheson (Blackburn Rovers), Ciaron Brown and Brodie Spencer (both Oxford), Paddy McNair (Hull), Eoin Toal (Bolton), Ruairi McConville (Norwich), Terry Devlin (Portsmouth); Jamie Donley and Jamie McDonnell (both Oxford), George Saville (Luton), Ali McCann (Preston), Shea Charles (Southampton), Isaac Price (West Brom), Paul Smyth (QPR), Ethan Galbraith (Swansea), Justin Devenny (Crystal Palace), Brad Lyons (Kilmarnock), Patrick Kelly (Barnsley), Kieran Morrison (Liverpool); Josh Magennis (Exeter), Dion Charles (Huddersfield), Callum Marshall (Bochum, on loan from West Ham), Jamie Reid (Stevenage).